Department for Transport

Road Traffic Offences: Employment

Mr Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on introducing tighter measures for companies that employ drivers so that such companies are automatically informed when an employee is convicted of a motoring offence and subsequently loses their professional driving licence; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: There are no plans for the Secretary of State to hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice about measures of this kind. The Driver and Vehicle and Licencing Agency (DVLA) does not hold or ask for details of where drivers work. In the haulage sector, some drivers are self-employed or work through agencies on short-term contracts for a variety of different companies. All employers have a duty to check their employees’ licences regularly; the DVLA advises that this should be done at least once every three months and they can do so using the DVLA’s free licence check service.

Taxis: Disability

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that taxis and private hire vehicles are accessible to people with disabilities.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Accessible taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) services are essential for helping many disabled people to remain independent and complete door-to-door journeys. In 2017 we commenced legislation to ensure wheelchair users receive the support they require and are not charged extra when taking taxis and PHVs, and later in the year we plan to review the reasons why some drivers continue to refuse passengers with assistance dogs, and the efficacy of actions to prevent such behaviour. Ultimately however, local licensing authorities should use their existing powers to ensure that taxi and PHV fleets reflect the needs of passengers, that drivers understand the rights and requirements of disabled people, and that robust action is taken against drivers who discriminate illegally against them.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Conferences

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Red Ensign Group conference 2018 is planned to take place; whether officials of his Department plan to attend that conference; and what the cost to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is of (a) supporting and (b) attending that conference.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Red Ensign Group (REG) Conference will take place between 12 and 14 June 2018 in Guernsey. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will attend the Conference to co-chair the event and to administer the secretariat for the working agenda. Representatives from MCA’s UK Ship Register will also attend alongside representatives from the 12 UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies which operate British shipping registries. The travel and accommodation costs for MCA personnel attending the Conference will be approximately £8,520. There are no supporting costs to the MCA for the Conference which are funded by the Bailiwick of Guernsey in its role as host.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce delays at the Dartford Crossing.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognises that further work is needed to address the congestion experienced at and around the Dartford Crossing and has committed £10m on measures to improve the traffic flow and reduce delays. This includes improvements to the A282 Junction 1a by Highways England working in collaboration with Kent County Council, and work on the M25 Junction 2 to help reduce congestion south of the crossing is due to start imminently. These were part of the preferred route announcement for the new Lower Thames Crossing that aims to provide more than 70 per cent of additional capacity and a long-term solution to help relieve congestion at the Dartford Crossing. Alongside this, a Dartford - Thurrock study will identify further proposals to reduce congestion that could be delivered in advance of the opening of the Lower Thames Crossing.

Shipping: Training

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many basic Standards in Training, Certification and Watchkeeping qualifications were issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to seafarers in each year between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) does not issue the four basic Standards in Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates which are listed below. Personal Survival Techniques (STCW Code – Table A-VI/1-1);Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (STCW Code – Table A-VI/1-2);Elementary First Aid (STCW Code – Table A-VI/1-3);Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities (STCW Code - Table AVI/1-4)

Shipping: Training

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many seafarer (a) Ratings and (b) Officers obtained Standards in Training, Certification and Watchkeeping qualifications from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in each year between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: From April 2009 to March 2016 a total of 27,104 UK Certificates of Competency (CoC) were issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Please note that figures from 2016/17 and 2017/18 are not yet available. Year (April – March)No. Of UK STCW Certificate of Competencies Issued2009/1031932010/1135382011/1235932012/1336832013/1439322014/1541252015/165040Total:27,104The MCA has only recorded statistical information pertaining to the number of rating certificates issued since 2015/16.Year (April – March)No. UK Rating Certificates Issued2015/16297 Figures from 2016/17 and 2017/18 are not yet available.

Shipping: Training

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many seafarer (a) Ratings and (b) Officers have renewed their Standards in Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) qualifications since 1 January 2017; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of seafarers who will need to renew their STCW qualifications in each year to 2023.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Figures from 2016/17 and 2017/18 are not yet available. As a result, it is not possible to be provide statistics as to the number of Standards in Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates renewed since January 2017. A Certificate of Competency (CoC) holds a maximum validity of five years from the date of issue. Whilst we can provide figures on certificates due to expire in each year up until 2020/21, we cannot ascertain how many of the licence holders will apply to renew their licences. The table below shows the number of certificates in each year that will require revalidation based on their date of issue five years prior. Year of Issue (April – March)Revalidation DueNo of UK STCW Certificates of Competency Expiring2013/142018/1939322014/152019/2041252015/162020/215040  Rating certificates do not expire and thus do not require revalidation.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a workable solution to the problem identified in the HS2 rolling stock tender presentation documents of excessive noise from the upper parts of HS2 trains operating at speeds over 300 km/h has been identified.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Challenging requirements have been set based on a review of current rolling stock performance and relevant research in this area. Mitigation of noise is being incentivised through the procurement process of the first rolling stock fleet. The market is therefore required to offer the best possible performance based on available technologies. Rolling stock solutions will not however be confirmed until after the first rolling stock contract has been awarded and the subsequent detailed design of the trains. In parallel, HS2 is working to determine the optimum “whole-system” solution to noise mitigation which includes consideration of the contribution all relevant parts of the railway can play in reducing noise.

Community Transport

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on support for community transport services.

Jesse Norman: The Secretary of State meets Ministers on a regular basis to discuss a variety of matters. We do not comment on the content of individual meetings.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on Government support for local authorities to maintain local roads.

Jesse Norman: The Secretary of State for Transport meets regularly with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss a wide range of issues. The Department for Transport is allocating over £6 billion in capital funding to support local highway authorities in England, outside London, to maintain the roads for which they are responsible. This includes a £296 million pothole action fund in order to repair potholes and to stop them forming. The funding is not ring-fenced and it is entirely for each authority to determine how their funding allocation is utilised based on their needs and priorities.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Great Haywood

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will ensure that HS2 Ltd release its plans for the Great Haywood Viaduct in advance of the relevant Select Committee sessions later in 2018.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The design of the Phase 2A scheme to date as set out in the Phase 2A Bill and the Environmental Statement deposited in July 2017 provides the level of detail necessary for the purposes of the Bill and the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2017. The level of detailed design necessary to enable the scheme to be constructed has yet to be carried out, and is unlikely to be completed until after the Bill has secured Royal Assent. Once complete, HS2 Ltd will need to apply for approval of the detailed design of various elements of the scheme, which would include the Great Hayward viaduct, from local planning authorities along the route under the planning regime established under Schedule 17 to the Bill. This will ensure that although deemed planning permission for the scheme is granted by Parliament, local planning authorities will be able to approve the detailed design thereby ensuring that the design of permanent structures fits into the local environment.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Water Companies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many meetings have taken place between private water companies and (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department in the last six months.

Richard Harrington: Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations on GOV.UK. These can be found at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetingshttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bis-quarterly-publications-april-to-june-2012#2016Details of meetings with officials is not available centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of his Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Richard Harrington: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



We do not hold this information centrally. To answer this question would incur disproportionate costs.

Regulation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which areas of Government policy are subject to the one-in-two-out rule for new regulations.

Andrew Griffiths: The One-In-Two-Out policy applied for the duration of the 2010-2015 Parliament. The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, introduced the business impact target to monitor regulatory costs. The Government is currently considering its approach to setting a target for the current Parliament.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Middle East: Religious Freedom

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using faith-based leaders as facilitators to promote peace and reconciliation amongst the ethnic and religious communities in Syria and Iraq.

Alistair Burt: We recognise that faith-based leaders can play a helpful role in promoting peace and reconciliation amongst the diverse ethnic and religious communities of Syria and Iraq. We regularly engage with faith leaders and faith-based Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in the UK and the MENA region to discuss the situation of religious communities.In Syria through our Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, we are supporting projects to promote community cohesion and dialogue between different ethnic and religious groups. However the ongoing violent conflict and displacement of Syrians from all ethnic and religious backgrounds throughout Syria, the region and beyond makes this work particularly challenging.In Iraq, we are supporting Prime Minister Abadi and the Government of Iraq in its efforts to deliver the reforms and reconciliation needed to rebuild public trust in the Iraqi state and unite all Iraqis against extremism.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to the Bahraini Government on the release of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

Alistair Burt: The UK has a continuing dialogue with the Government of Bahrain in which we raise individual cases. We have raised the case of Abdulhadi al- Khawaja at a senior level and will continue to monitor it.

Bahrain: Elections

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what criteria his Department will use to assess whether the Bahrain elections in autumn are (a) free and (b) fair.

Alistair Burt: ​We closely follow the political situation in Bahrain, and will do so through the upcoming elections. As with all elections in the region and beyond, we will encourage the Government of Bahrain to ensure fair, inclusive and transparent elections.

Bahrain: Prisons

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports his Department has received on prison conditions in Bahrain and the withdrawal of prisoners' visiting rights, personal effects and other restrictions.

Alistair Burt: The Government monitors events in Bahrain closely. When we have concerns on specific issues, including prison conditions, we raise these at an appropriately senior level. We encourage those with concerns about treatment in detention to report these to the relevant human rights oversight bodies. We encourage the Government of Bahrain to deliver on its international and domestic human rights commitments.The UK's support to Bahrain's reform programme includes strengthening independent oversight bodies such as the Ministry of Interior Ombudsman and the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission which provide oversight of police conduct and detention standards.

Bahrain: Politics and Government

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Saudi Government on Saudi influence in Bahrain.

Alistair Burt: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not had such discussions with the Saudi Government.

Middle East: Peace Negotiations

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) Israeli and (b) Palestinian counterparts on the Middle East peace process.

Alistair Burt: ​We regularly press both the Israelis and Palestinians to engage in direct negotiations that will lead to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. Most recently Lord Ahmad visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (8-12 April) and stressed the need for an end to all actions that undermine the viability of the two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Hamdallah, Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi and Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked.

Caribbean: Immigrants

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he intends to meet with representatives of the Caribbean to discuss concerns on the immigration status of people of Caribbean birth who have been living and working in the UK.

Sir Alan Duncan: The United Kingdom will always be grateful for the invaluable contribution made by the thousands of people who came to the UK from the Caribbean. The Government has therefore made considerable efforts to discuss immigration issues with Caribbean leaders and explain the urgent action being taken to rectify cases of those from the Windrush generation.Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the Caribbean, and the Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP, Minister of State for Immigration, met Commonwealth Caribbean Foreign Ministers on 16 April to discuss concerns about the immigration status of the Windrush generation. This was followed by a meeting between the Prime Minister and Caribbean leaders on 17 April. The Prime Minister also met the Prime Minister of Jamaica for a bilateral meeting. Lord Ahmad joined both discussions.Lord Ahmad meets Caribbean High Commissioners quarterly and these issues will be discussed at the next scheduled meeting.

Human Rights: Business

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support human rights groups working on business and human rights.

Mark Field: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports human rights groups working on business and human rights through diplomacy, communications and project work. We have supported several non-governmental organisations working in this field, with funding from the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy. In financial year 2017/18 we supported the Institute for Human Rights and Business and Huridocs (this work continues). Our network of posts has also worked on business and human rights, including a project with Marks and Spencer in India.As set out in our National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, the UK Government is committed to the full implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The FCO encourages other countries to follow our example in implementing National Action Plans.

Andy Hall

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he made to his counterpart in the Thai Government on the imposition of a 10 million Baht fine on Andy Hall for damages to Natural Fruit Co Ltd. following his civil defamation conviction.

Mark Field: ​I am aware of the civil court order issued on 26 March by Prakhanong Court, calling for Mr Andy Hall to pay 10 million Thai baht in damages to Natural Fruit. We have not raised this court order with the Thai authorities as legal proceedings are ongoing.We remain in contact with Mr Hall, and have taken action to support him and the important issues he works on, including by raising these with the Thai authorities. We will continue to do so. The UK government supports the right of human rights defenders to carry out their work without fear of harassment or reprisals. We also support full implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

North Korea: Sanctions

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the criteria are for the Government deciding to review the sanctions which the UK imposes on North Korea.

Mark Field: The UN Security Council (UNSC) has imposed ten resolutions on North Korea in response to its illegal pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since 2006 (most recently UNSCR 2397 on 23 December 2017). The EU has introduced its own additional autonomous measures. The sanctions contained within these measures, together with a strategy of maximum pressure, are designed to bring North Korea to the negotiating table with the aim of achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea. Until North Korea takes concrete steps to bring this about we will continue working with our international partners to keep up pressure and strictly enforce existing sanctions. Any sanctions the UK imposes on North Korea result from UNSC and EU decisions and we would review them within the UNSC and EU frameworks.

Andy Hall

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Thai counterpart on the recent ruling that UK human rights activist, Andy Hall, must pay 10 million Baht in damages to the Natural Fruit Co Ltd. as a result of his conviction for civil defamation conviction; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: ​I am aware of the civil court order issued on 26 March by Prakhanong Court, calling for Mr Andy Hall to pay 10 million Thai baht in damages to Natural Fruit. We have not raised this court order with the Thai authorities as legal proceedings are ongoing.We remain in contact with Mr Hall, and have taken action to support him and the important issues he works on, including by raising these with the Thai authorities. We will continue to do so. The UK government supports the right of human rights defenders to carry out their work without fear of harassment or reprisals. We also support full implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Kashmir: Human Rights

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle alleged human rights abuses in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Mark Field: We recognise that there are human rights concerns in India-administered Kashmir. We have recently discussed this situation in India-administered Kashmir with representatives of the Indian Government. We encourage all States to ensure that their domestic laws are in line with international standards. The FCO believes that any allegations of human rights abuses must be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently.

Kashmir: Human Rights

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that Commonwealth citizens in disputed Kashmir territories have their human rights upheld.

Mark Field: The British Government encourages all states to ensure that their domestic laws meet international human rights standards. We raise the issue of Kashmir, including human rights, with the Governments of India and Pakistan. The British Government also works with the Indian and Pakistani Governments to build capacity and share expertise to tackle challenges, including the promotion and protection of human rights.

China: Religious Freedom

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) representations he received from and (b) discussions he held with the Chinese authorities on that country's white paper on freedom of religious belief.

Mark Field: ​We are aware that the Chinese authorities published a white paper on protecting freedom of religious belief on 3 April. A draft version of China's regulations on Religious Affairs has been available since September 2016, and we raised our concerns about these draft guidelines at the UK-China human rights dialogue held in Beijing on 27 June 2017.We regularly raise our concerns about freedom of religious belief and the full range of human rights concerns with the Chinese Authorities. The Prime Minister raised human rights when she visited China earlier this year.The UK regularly delivers item IV statements at the UN Human Rights Council referencing China. We also support EU statements, including the statement at the 37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council 14 March 2018, which called upon China to respect the right of freedom of religion.

Madagascar: Elections

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of electoral laws adopted by the Parliament of Madagascar in April 2018 for the prospects of conducting the forthcoming Presidential election in that country in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Boris Johnson: A comprehensive legal analysis of the electoral codes was prepared by technical legal experts and provided to the EU and its member states, including the UK, in Madagascar. We, along with our international partners, have called for the constitutionality of the electoral processes to be respected, and for the elections themselves to be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive manner.

Korea: Politics and Government

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in other NATO members states on the inter-Korean summit.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary regularly discusses the threat posed by North Korea with his counterparts from other NATO member states. The Foreign Secretary has made clear that the UK welcomes talks, and that we remain committed to the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.The Foreign Secretary most recently met his NATO counterparts in Brussels on 27 April, the day of the inter-Korean Summit. While the Summit was not a formal agenda item, the Foreign Secretary was able to discuss developments with other Ministers present.​

Egypt: Torture

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Human Rights Watch report on torture in Egypt published in September 2017, whether he plans to make representations to his counterpart in the Egyptian Government on ending the practice of torture.

Alistair Burt: We are concerned about reports of torture and mistreatment in detention in Egypt, and continue to raise these issues with the Egyptian authorities. We have raised our concerns in public, through the UN Human Rights Council and through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Priority Country reports, and in private, in meetings with Egyptian officials in London and Cairo. Our Ambassador in Cairo last raised human rights concerns with the Egyptian authorities on 18 April. The UK wants to see more political progress and better protection of human rights in Egypt, including implementation of the rights guaranteed by Egypt’s Constitution.

Colombia: Politics and Government

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Colombia to support the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in test cases such as that of Congressman-Elect Jesus Santrich and other institutions created under the peace agreement; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The arrest of Seauxis Hernandez (Jesus Santrich) for allegations of drug smuggling since the signing of the Peace Agreement is a significant challenge for all those working to uphold the aims of the Havana accords. The British Ambassador in Bogota has discussed the case with the Attorney General, and the Embassy are monitoring the situation closely. In her statement on 19 April, Karen Pierce the UK Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council made clear the importance of handling it in accordance with the Peace Agreement. I understand that Mr Hernandez’s case will be reviewed by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. I welcome the joint message of commitment to due process made by President Santos and FARC Party leader Rodrigo Londono following their meeting on 11 April.

Korea: Politics and Government

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether there are plans to hold a follow-up event after the December 2017 Vancouver Conference of Foreign Ministers on the situation on the Korean peninsula; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary joined Foreign Ministers and senior officials from twenty countries at the Vancouver Group meeting on 16 January 2018. The Group endorsed the maximum pressure approach and the goal of achieving the complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.There are no plans for a follow-up event. The Foreign Secretary continues to engage regularly with his counterparts on the threat posed by North Korea’s illegal pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, including at the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Toronto on 22-23 April and at the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels on 27 April.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Sir Alan Duncan: In 2015, 2180 sick absence days were taken for mental health or stress by 65 members of staff, representing 1.5% of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) UK-based workforce.In 2016, 2816 sick absence days were taken for mental health or stress by 79 members of staff, representing 1.7% of the FCO's UK-based workforce.In 2017, 2845 sick absence days were taken for mental health or stress by 78 members of staff, representing 1.7% of the FCO's UK-based workforce. ​

Seas and Oceans: Environment Protection

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to secure a global agreement on protecting at least 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

Sir Alan Duncan: As set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, the UK will work with partners internationally to make sure that a robust evidence base informs the adoption of ambitious, realistic and measurable post-2020 targets at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the Convention for Biological Diversity in 2020.This should include the agreement of new ambitious targets for protection of the world's oceans. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to promote the UK's ambitions in this respect.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Staff

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent permanent staff in his Department he been assigned to (a) preparations and (b) negotiations on a new UN oceans treaty.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has two full-time equivalent permanent staff assigned to preparations and negotiations on a new agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. As of June, this number will rise to three full-time equivalent permanent members of staff and we are currently recruiting for a fourth. Other members of staff will also be available to support the negotiations as required. The FCO also works closely with other government departments, in particular the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on these negotiations.

Seas and Oceans: Treaties

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for formal negotiations on a new UN oceans treaty; and how many officials at his Department at each grade will attend the UN conference in September 2018 on the treaty.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have been actively involved in the preparations for formal negotiations to develop a new agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. We were actively involved in developing and shaping the EU and Member States' positions during the initial stages of discussions at the UN Ad Hoc Working Group on this issue and during the Preparatory Committee, which reported in July 2017. This Preparatory Committee led to the establishment of the intergovernmental conference which will start its work on the substance in September 2018. The FCO leads, with close cooperation from DEFRA, on these negotiations. We have also consulted with and will continue to consult with other government departments during these negotiations. We will also continue to discuss these issues with external stakeholders including the scientific community and civil society.The UK delegation to the intergovernmental conference in September will include three officials, supported by policy and legal expertise from DEFRA. We will continue to review the composition and size of the delegation as the negotiations develop in order to ensure that we have the right people in place to promote the UK's interests and the interests of global conservation.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Recruitment

Ben Lake: To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of job roles advertised within his Department in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 excluded the box under the Ban the Box initiative.

Jeremy Wright: No Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Attorney General’s Office (AGO), or Government Legal Department (GLD) advertised job roles in 2016 and 2017 included a declaration box for candidates to declare a criminal record.HMCPSI had one new recruitment in each of these years. The tick box was included in the campaign in 2016, but was removed in 2017.

Attorney General: Recruitment

Ben Lake: To ask the Attorney General, what his Department's implementation plan is for banning the box on job applications.

Robert Buckland: The Attorney General's Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Attorney General: Living Wage

Frank Field: To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Jeremy Wright: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not directly employ anyone whose salary is less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation.All CPS contracts, including those for agency staff and outsourced services, require suppliers to adhere to applicable legislation, including National Minimum Wage Regulations. The CPS does not stipulate that suppliers and agencies must pay the living wage rate as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.Suppliers of outsourced services and agencies are responsible for setting rates of pay and actual rates of pay are dependent on location and market rates. The CPS does not hold information on individual rates of pay for contractor staff and therefore it is unable to provide or estimate the number of contractor staff paid less than the national living wage as defined be the Living Wage Foundation.The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) pay all direct employees, agency staff and outsourced staff more than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.Currently fewer than five employees of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) are paid less than the London Living Wage. No agency staff employed by the SFO are paid less than the London Living Wage. The SFO is not responsible for the pay rates of staff engaged by service providers, and does not hold complete information on their remuneration.

Attorney General: Travellers

Kate Green: To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General of 2 November 2016, Official Report, column 879, and pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2018 to Question 134113, on Travellers: Equality, what meetings he has had since 2016 with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on using the 2011 census classifications that differentiate Gypsies and Travellers.

Robert Buckland: The Race Disparity Audit website displays data where possible using the Census 2011 ethnic categories, which includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Race Disparity Unit work closely together to further progress the harmonisation of ethnicity data across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and to improve the coverage of ethnic groups including Gypsy, Roma and Travellers. The Race Disparity Audit Inter Ministerial Group chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster discusses matters pertaining to the progress of the Race Disparity Audit, including on the collection of ethnicity data.

Attorney General: Travellers

Kate Green: To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General of 2 November 2016, Official Report, column 879, what progress his Department has made in using the 2011 census classifications that differentiate Gypsies and Travellers.

Robert Buckland: The Race Disparity Audit website displays data where possible using the Census 2011 ethnic categories, which includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Race Disparity Unit work closely together to further progress the harmonisation of ethnicity data across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and to improve the coverage of ethnic groups including Gypsy, Roma and Travellers. The Race Disparity Audit Inter Ministerial Group chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster discusses matters pertaining to the progress of the Race Disparity Audit, including on the collection of ethnicity data.

Attorney General: EU Law

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney General, which regulations his Department (a) has introduced as a result of EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to date and (b) expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Jeremy Wright: The Attorney General’s Office has not made any regulations pursuant to EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to the present day, and does not expect to make regulations pursuant to EU legislation in either 2018 or 2019.

Police: Acquittals

Layla Moran: To ask the Attorney General, how many police officers have been charged by the CPS and then acquitted after a trial in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of suspects and defendants identified as being persons serving with the police. This definition will include police staff, community support officers and contracted escort and detention officers in addition to serving police officers. The table below shows the number of charging decisions made by the CPS, where suspects were flagged as being persons serving with the police, in each of the last five years. -CPS Charged2012-2013692013-2014762014-20151002015-20161722016-2017141Data Source: CPS Management Information System Records are also kept showing the outcomes of prosecutions, including convictions and acquittals after trial. The table below shows the number of acquittals after trial, where defendants were flagged as being persons serving with the police, in each of the last five years. -Acquittals after TrialTrials2012-201319402013-201416352014-201525462015-201626492016-20173251Data Source: CPS Management Information System These figures are identified by way of a monitoring flag, administered by a member of staff highlighting it as a “Police complaint” case.

Department of Health and Social Care

Suicide

Sir David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve the availability of support that is offered for the friends and families of suicide victims.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Providing better information and support to people bereaved by suicide is a key area for action in the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy for England. Effective suicide bereavement services should be provided through effective local partnerships between local authorities, National Health Service organisations and voluntary and charitable sector providers. Public Health England published a suite of guidance in 2017, in conjunction with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and the Support After Suicide Partnership, to local areas for developing and implementing compassionate suicide bereavement services. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/support-after-a-suicide-a-guide-to-providing-local-services Almost every local area has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place to ensure that all local services are working together to deliver tailored approaches to reducing suicides in their communities. Public Health England published updated guidance in 2016 to local areas on developing these multi-agency partnerships and plans and advised that local plans should reflect the key areas for action of the national strategy, including providing effective bereavement support. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/suicide-prevention-developing-a-local-action-plan The Department funds the Help is at Hand suicide bereavement support resource, published by Public Health England, which provides compassionate information and signposting to people who have been bereaved by suicide. Help is at Hand provides helpful advice such as explaining the processes followed by authorities following a suicide, gives testimonies by other people bereaved by suicide and provides a directory of other organisations which can provide support. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/you-are-not-alone-help-is-at-hand-for-anyone-bereaved-by-suicide We published Learning from Deaths guidance to the NHS in 2017, which was in response to the Care Quality Commission’s review of how the NHS investigates and learns from deaths. A key area of this document is how the NHS should engage and communicate compassionately and respectfully with bereaved families when a patient dies. We have made it clear within that guidance that we expect NHS organisations to provide bereavement support services, or signpost bereaved families to services, to ensure they can access effective support. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-guidance-on-learning-from-deaths/

Health: Children

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an recent assessment of the link between adverse childhood experiences and (a) risky health behaviours, (b) chronic health conditions and (c) premature death.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has commissioned through its Social Care Policy Research Programme a review of the effectiveness of interventions for children and young people (aged 3-18 years) who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). This will report later this year. NHS England is aware of the range of published evidence on the importance of ACEs and the potential impact they have on health, including mental health.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what restrictions apply to the sale of shares in any wholly owned company limited by shares which have been set up by a NHS Foundation Trust.

Stephen Barclay: Legislation permitting foundation trusts to set up subsidiary companies has been in place since 2004 and specific restrictions on subsequent sale were not put in place at that time or subsequently. Restrictions for foundation trusts on the sale of assets exist where disposal would affect commissioner requested services, but that only applies in specific limited cases.

Mental Illness: Children and Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made on the effect of (a) poverty and (b) material deprivation on child and adolescent mental ill health.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The most recent study on the prevalence of the mental health of children and young people in Great Britain was carried out in 2004 and shows that the prevalence of mental disorders was greater among children in families with a gross weekly household income of less than £100 (16%) compared with those with an income of £600 or more (5%). Prevalence rates in the 2004 published full survey are shown in relation to family’s employment status, gross weekly household income, receipt of disability benefits, socio-economic classification, and ACORN classification, a system of segmenting households by levels of prosperity. The survey was carried out by the Office for National Statistics and can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/statisticsonchildhoodandadolescentmentalhealth The Department has commissioned a new survey on the prevalence of mental disorders among children and young people, due to be published in autumn 2018 by NHS Digital. The survey is planned to include information on mental disorder prevalence in relation to household income quintiles and by the Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles.

Cerebral Palsy: Medical Treatments

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make available on the NHS, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy procedures to reduce spasticity in lower limbs; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: NHS England does not currently routinely commission Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery and published a policy in 2014 based on the clinical evidence available at that time, which did not demonstrate the benefits of surgery over and above other non-surgical treatment options (such as intensive physiotherapy). However, given the continued clinical and patient interest in the procedure, NHS England invested in a Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) scheme which has gathered new ‘real world’ evidence from 140 children undergoing surgery in selected centres in England. The interim results of this scheme, independently evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, together with an updated review of the published evidence of clinical effectiveness, have been used to support the drafting of an updated policy proposition which will be considered as part of NHS England’s relative prioritisation process for investments in specialised care in May 2018. If appropriate, there may also be an opportunity to further review the policy once the full evaluation is available from the CtE scheme in autumn 2018.

Gambling

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of people who have received counselling or other treatment for an addiction to gambling in the last six months.

Steve Brine: Information on the number of people who have received counselling or treatment for an addiction to gambling is not held centrally.

GP at Hand

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients are registered with the GP at Hand service.

Steve Brine: The Lille Road Health Centre, which is the practice all patients registered with the GP at Hand service are associated with, has a registered list of 24,652 as of March 2018.

Primary Health Care: Internet

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking in response to the Care Quality Commission report, The state of care in independent online primary health services.

Steve Brine: The Department is working with the Care Quality Commission to consider what further action is needed following this report, to ensure we are striking a balance between the provision of safe, effective and high-quality care whilst not stifling innovation. A cross-regulatory forum has been set up to consider the issues online providers pose for the regulatory model. In addition, NHS England’s clinical safety group will review the recommendations in the report and determine further action for current online services.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the performance of clinical commissioning groups by incorporating patient experience and perspective for NHS Continuing Health Care.

Caroline Dinenage: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a responsibility to engage with their local populations and seek patient views. NHS England has assurance mechanisms in place to understand CCG compliance with the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare. NHS Continuing Healthcare has been part of mainstream assurance processes since 2016/17 by being included in the CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. NHS England local teams use an assurance tool, Continuing Healthcare Assurance Tool, to assess CCGs’ compliance with the NHS England Operating Model for NHS Continuing Healthcare. NHS England is collecting benchmarking data at the CCG level on requests for local resolution for NHS Continuing Healthcare. More broadly, the work of NHS England is focused on delivering better health services for our patients and the public and it is essential that this is based on a good understanding of what is important to them. NHS England and CCGs have legal duties as to public involvement and consultation in provision of health services and NHS England recently refreshed its statutory guidance for CCGs regarding patient and public participation, in consultation with local Healthwatch organisations. This guidance can be found at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/patient-and-public-participation-guidance.pdf

Continuing Care

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include a public consultation in his Department's review of the Decision Support Tool for NHS Continuing Health Care, published in March 2018.

Caroline Dinenage: The updated National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care and associated assessment tools, including the NHS Continuing Healthcare Decision Support Tool, was published on 1 March 2018, and will be implemented on 1 October 2018. This update to the National Framework followed an extensive period of external engagement with stakeholders, across the National Health Service, local authorities, and patient representative groups.

Spinal Injuries

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136434 on spinal injuries, what steps his Department is taking to submit the fully costed breakdown of the £855 million in efficiency savings from the NHS Continuing Health Care budget as recommended in paragraph 5 of the 13th Report of the Public Accounts Committee, NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, HC 455, published on 17 January 2018.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government published its response to the Public Accounts Committee January 2018 report and recommendations on NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding in March 2018. Continuing Healthcare expenditure (after efficiencies) is forecast to increase over the period to 2020/21, and the identified efficiency opportunity is not predicated on changes to the National Framework in respect of eligibility or on limiting the care packages available. How any efficiency is delivered in practice will be determined by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) locally, consistent with their statutory duties and national guidance in respect of access to Continuing Healthcare. National modelling based on variations in Continuing Healthcare expenditure and practice suggests the following notional efficiency opportunities in 2020/21, amounting to circa £855 million, which it is anticipated will inform local commissioning decisions: - NHS England working with the Department to provide clarity around the National Framework and improving the way CCGs deliver the National Framework. This includes interventions such as improved data and benchmarking information and reducing the number of Continuing Healthcare assessments in an acute hospital setting – (circa £361 million);- Improving the commissioning of care packages – (circa £122 million);- Improving Continuing Healthcare processes including the supporting of staff with training and development – (circa £79 million); and- CCGs locally delivered improvement initiatives – (circa £293 million).

Continuing Care

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of external agencies running care packages for those receiving NHS Continuing Health Care on a) the standard of care provided and (b) the consideration of the patient's needs.

Caroline Dinenage: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are the organisation responsible for commissioning care, based on an individual’s assessed needs and providing assurance at a local level that the quality of care meets those needs. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission also has a responsibility for setting the standards for registration and taking appropriate actions if standards are not maintained. NHS England has a responsibility to assure compliance with the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare, and have assurance mechanisms in place. NHS Continuing Health Care has been part of mainstream assurance processes since 2016/17 by being included in the CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. NHS England local teams use an assurance tool, Continuing Healthcare Assurance Tool, to assess CCGs’ compliance with the NHS England Operating Model for NHS Continuing Healthcare. NHS England is working closely with the CCGs to ensure standardisation of the Continuing Healthcare processes which includes the development of tools to support effective commissioning.

Liothyronine

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) affordability and (b) NHS procurement options for Liothyronine T3.

Steve Brine: The costs of branded medicines are controlled by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme and the statutory scheme for branded medicines. Liothyronine is an unbranded generic medicine. For unbranded generic medicines, the Department encourages competition between suppliers to keep prices down. In primary care, community pharmacies are incentivised to source products at the lowest possible cost and in secondary care, competitive tenders ensure value-for-money to the National Health Service. Liothyronine is currently the subject of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, which has provisionally found that the single supplier of the product abused its dominant position to overcharge the NHS by millions of pounds for liothyronine tablets. A provisional decision does not necessarily lead to an infringement decision. Where companies have breached competition law, the Department will seek damages and invest that money back into the NHS. Liothyronine was included in NHS England guidance last year; ‘Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care’ because more cost effective products than liothyronine are available. That guidance recommends that:- prescribers in primary care should not initiate liothyronine for any new patient;- individuals currently prescribed liothyronine should be reviewed by a consultant NHS endocrinologist with consideration given to switching to levothyroxine where clinically appropriate; and- a local decision, involving the Area Prescribing Committee (or equivalent) informed by National guidance (e.g. from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence or the Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee), should be made regarding arrangements for on-going prescribing of liothyronine. This should be for individuals who, in exceptional circumstances, have an on-going need for liothyronine as confirmed by a consultant NHS endocrinologist.

Department of Health and Social Care: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Caroline Dinenage: Departmental information systems do not record sickness absence relating to stress as a distinct category. Within the broader category that includes all mental health issues, the following table shows how many and the proportion of staff who have had days off sick and the total working days lost within that category in each of the last three years. Category201520162017Number of staff members who had days off sick due to mental illness888244Proportion of staff who had days off due to mental illness4%4%2%Total days lost due to mental illness2,1941,8521,832 Note:Data as at 31 December for each year.

Healthy Start Scheme

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) women and (b) children were eligible to receive Healthy Start vouchers in each year since 2012-13.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information is not available in the format requested. We are able to provide data for the number of women and children eligible for Healthy Start since 2014/15, we do not hold this detailed information prior to this date. This is shown in the following table:  Eligible to apply WomenEligible to apply Children2014/1522,736626,5272015/1619,512564,2142016/1715,465536,8392017/1815,196503,585 Note: Validated but unpublished information on Healthy Start beneficiaries.

Healthy Start Scheme: Food

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department allocated to Healthy Start welfare foods payments in each year since 2012-13.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The data below is the incurred spend for the welfare foods schemes which are made up of the Healthy Start scheme and the Nursery Milk scheme. The data is shown in the following table: Healthy Start - Welfare Foods2012-13£141,366,3392013-14£137,790,2122014-15£128,904,3792015-16£124,890,6492016-17£112,556,870

Healthy Start Scheme

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to (a) raise awareness and (b) increase the take-up of the Healthy Start scheme.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government is working to ensure that eligible families are aware of the Healthy Start scheme and how this will benefit them. The scheme is promoted through the Healthy Start and Start4Life websites, reminding families to take up the vouchers. The Healthy Start Issuing Unit is also proactive in identifying and making contact with families who may be eligible for Healthy Start. At a local level, midwives, health visitors and local authorities play a key role in promoting awareness of the scheme.

Roads: Standards

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of potholes throughout the NHS estate in each year since 2010.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the number of potholes on the NHS estate.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Government has spent on repairing potholes across the NHS estate in each year since 2010.

Stephen Barclay: The data requested is not collected centrally. National Health Service organisations are locally responsible for the condition of their roads and car parks, which will includes potholes and are expected to keep their estate in an appropriate condition.

Hereditary Diseases

Darren Jones: to ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what lessons have been learned from the 100,000 Genome Project which will help when deciding what genetic diseases should be screened for at birth.

Caroline Dinenage: The 100,000 Genomes Project is focussed on recruiting patients, including children, with rare diseases (and their family members) and those with common cancers. These are areas where whole genome sequencing may offer the best opportunity to diagnose disease. From the Project’s pilot phase we have found actionable findings in 20-25% of rare disease patients. The scope of the project does not include screening at birth. The Chief Medical Officer, in her annual report Generation Genome, recommended that that the National Screening Committee conducts a systematic evaluation of the opportunities offered by genomics for present and potential screening practices.

Department for International Development

Slavery

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Department for International Development of 18 April 2018, Official Report, column 307 on Modern Slavery, what the functions of the business hub will be; where the hub will be located; and what the hub's governance structure will be.

Alistair Burt: The Hub for Business Integrity will work with UK companies engaging with developing countries to enable them to meet international and domestic standards on anti-corruption and human rights. It will bring together advice and support for UK businesses operating overseas from a range of UK government departments. The Hub is currently under development.

Department for Education

Careers and Enterprise Company: Finance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the careers strategy, what additional funding he plans to allocate to the Careers and Enterprise Company to facilitate that company's expansion into SEND and primary schools.

Nick Gibb: We are investing over £70 million each year until 2020 to help young people and adults to benefit from high quality careers provision. This includes funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company and the National Careers Service. The careers strategy includes funding for a number of programmes. This includes £2 million for careers activities in primary schools and further investment in initiatives focused on supporting those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Further information is available in The Careers & Enterprise Company Implementation Plan, published in response to the Government’s careers strategy: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/sites/default/files/uploaded/careers-enterprise-implementation-plan.pdf.

Department for Education: Social Mobility Commission

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times he has met the Social Mobility Commission​ since his appointment.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Secretary of State has not had the opportunity to meet with the Social Mobility Commission since his appointment given the current vacancies of the chair and commissioners. Progress on appointing a new Chair and Commissioners is well underway and is taking place in line with the procedures set out in the Governance Code for Public Appointments. My fellow ministers and I look forward to working with the successful candidate to drive forward on improving social mobility.

Social Mobility Commission: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people are employed at the Social Mobility Commission.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Mobility Commission

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any work is being undertaken by the Social Mobility Commission in the absence of a chair or commissioners.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Commission Secretariat continues to deliver routine functions such as responding to enquiries on the State of the Nation report and previously published research reports; managing research projects that were agreed by the former Chair and board of commissioners as part of their research programme; scoping new projects and preparing for the incoming Chair and commissioners.

Teachers: Training

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the rate of acceptance onto teacher training courses was in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2017-18.

Nick Gibb: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) administer applications to initial teacher training (ITT) and publish regular statistical releases containing data on applications and acceptances. Statistics on acceptances are available from UCAS, at https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-releases.The Department’s ITT Census provides the number of new entrants who started postgraduate initial teacher training for academic years 2016/17 and 2017/18. Data is not collected or published on ITT courses outside of England. Figures for Coventry, the West Midlands and England are contained in the table below:Location of ITT provider2017/182016/17Coventry465375West Midlands3,0702,685England27,72026,750Source: ITT CensusAll figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.Figures for 2017/18 are provisional and subject to change.Figures for 2016/17 are final and based on data from 24 October 2017.Figures exclude forecasted trainees.Location of ITT provider does not necessarily reflect the location of the trainee.Identification of Coventry ITT providers based on the registered postcode of the provider.

Schools: Finance

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department allocated to schools in (a) Harborough constituency (b) Leicestershire (c) Leicester and (d) England in each financial year since 2010-11; and what estimate he has made of the funding that will be allocated to those areas under the National Funding Formula for (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Educational Psychology

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many educational psychologists were employed in the (a) public sector and (b) private sector in each year for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: In November 2016, there were 1,368 educational psychologists (EP) that were reported as being directly employed by local authorities in England. This excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or shared with other local authorities. In addition, individual academies and free schools do obtain private provision. Information regarding the number of educational psychologists employed in the private sector is not held centrally.

Foster Care: Government Responses

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the reports on foster care in England from the (a) Education Committee and (b) Independent Review on foster care by Sir Martin Narey and Mark Owers.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government response to both the independent review ‘Foster Care in England’ and the Education Select Committee’s report on fostering will be published within the next three months.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2018 to Question 130831 on Pre-school Education: Finance, how many local authorities allocated a quality supplement through the early years funding formula in each year since 2010.

Nadhim Zahawi: I refer the hon. Member for Manchester Central to the answer I gave on 16 April 2018 to Question 135183:https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-29/135183.

Child Minding: Standards

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of childminders who left the profession in the last year were rated (a) outstanding (b) good, (c) requires improvement and (d) inadequate in their last Ofsted inspection.

Nadhim Zahawi: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of non-domestic providers of childcare rated as requires improvement by Ofsted and subequently re-inspected within 12 months are still rated (a) as requires improvement or (b) inadequate.

Nadhim Zahawi: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Academies: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the the Academies Financial Handbook, how many contentious connected party transactions were referred to the Education and Skills Funding Agency in each year since that requirement was introduced.

Nadhim Zahawi: The primary responsibility for the oversight of trusts rests with the trustees themselves, supported by clear financial management and governance requirements set by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the Academies Financial Handbook. Section 3.3 of the Academies Financial Handbook states that, “Novel, contentious and/or repercussive transactions must always be referred to ESFA for explicit prior authorisation.” The information requested is contained within individual case files and not in a centrally recorded format.The Public Accounts Committee report on academy finances, published 30 March 2018, recommended that “To prevent abuse, the department should tighten the rules in the next version of the Academies Financial Handbook, expected in July 2018, to prevent academies from entering into related party transactions without approval from ESFA.” The government is currently considering the recommendation and will formally respond to the report in late May.

Academies: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many related party transactions by multi-academy trusts there have been in each year since 2010.

Nadhim Zahawi: Any related party transactions undertaken by multi-academy trusts (MATs) would be disclosed in their audited annual accounts, which are publicly available. However, any figures for collated totals for all MATs across multiple years are not available.

Leasowe Primary School: Finance

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much core revenue funding Leasowe Primary School in Wallasey constituency received in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18; and how much funding that school is planned to receive in (i) 2019-20 and (ii) 2020-21.

Nick Gibb: Pre 16 school and academy allocations are published each financial year for all schools and academies. The 2016-17 financial year allocations can be viewed in the data table here, using the LAESTAB number for Leasowe Primary School, 3442268: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-block-funding-allocations-2016-to-2017. Allocations for the 2017-18 financial year can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-block-funding-allocations-2017-to-2018.2018-19 financial year allocations will be published in the autumn 2018.Funding allocations for future years are not yet available as local authorities (LAs) submit their formula for distributing the Dedicated Schools Grant at the end of February. The Department will be informed of LA allocations for 2019-20 in March 2019.

Schools: Wallasey

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Wallasey constituency that will receive a reduction in (i) cash and (ii) per pupil funding in each of the next five years.

Nick Gibb: In 2018/19, all schools in Wallasey attracted more cash funding through the national funding formula, both in total and per pupil, compared to their 2017/18 baselines. Final decisions on individual schools’ budgets are taken by the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, based on the local funding formula.In 2019/20, no school will attract reduced cash funding per pupil through the national funding formula. Given that funding follows the pupil, individual schools may attract less funding in total if the number of pupils on roll decreases. The Department will publish notional funding formula allocations for 2019/20 later this year after updating calculations using the latest autumn census data.Funding after 2019/20 will depend on the outcomes of the next Spending Review.

Ministry of Justice

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for a benefit appeal tribunal hearing for benefit claimants from Kettering constituency in the last twelve months for which data are available; what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times in areas which are beyond the national average for such times; and what the reasons are for the length of wait for claimants in Kettering constituency.

Lucy Frazer: The average waiting time1,2 for Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) appeals in the Kettering3 constituency between January 2016 and December 2017 (the latest period for which figures are available) is 334 weeks. In order to respond to a general increase in appeal receipts, HM Courts & Tribunals Service has been working with the Tribunal’s judiciary both to appoint additional judges and panel members and take forward initiatives with potential to increase the capacity and performance of the Tribunal, including reviewing current listing practices to increase the number of cases being listed on a Tribunal session, and introducing case management “triage” sessions, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. All these measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants in all areas, not just those which are beyond the current national average. Specifically, in the Kettering constituency area we have introduced a new venue with increased capacity to reduce waiting times. Additionally, appellants are also offered Northampton as an alternative venue which is able to offer shorter hearing dates. Waiting time is interpreted as average Clearance Time – time taken for appeal receipt to outcome.Includes only appeals cleared at tribunal hearing and excludes those cleared without the need of a tribunal hearing.SSCS data are recorded by the office that dealt with the case, and if the case went to oral hearing, the location of the Tribunal hearing, normally the hearing venue nearest to the appellants home address. We cannot retrieve data based on constituencies, but can produce reports detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of our Regional centres or heard at a specific venue. For the Kettering constituency this is the Wellingborough venue. Data include all cases attributed to that venue. Prior to the Wellingborough venue being used cases were heard in Kettering. In 15_16 only two cases were head in Wellingborough and as such the data maybe skewed.HMCTS data April to December 17 is provisional. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.

Magistrates' Courts: Bedford

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when Bedford Magistrate’s Court was closed; and to where the services of that court were relocated.

Lucy Frazer: In June 2014 the majority of magistrates’ court work at Bedford Magistrates’ Court (at the Shire Hall building) was centralised into Luton Magistrates’ Court. This was following a judicially-led consultation on revised listing arrangements, which was conducted in 2013. Magistrates’ family cases, along with civil and tribunal cases, continue to be heard at the court. The Shire Hall building will only close subject to a public consultation, which will be published in due course.

Magistrates' Courts: Bedford

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were heard at Bedford Magistrate’s Court in each year from 2009 to 2017.

Lucy Frazer: The number of magistrates’ court cases heard at Bedford Magistrates’ Court between 2010 and 2017 are shown below. HM Courts & Tribunals Service do not hold data for 2009. Magistrates’ Court cases can require more than one hearing and therefore the data includes instances where there have been multiple hearings in the same case. YearNumber of cases dealt with201014,652201113,059201210,95520136,39620141,91220157422016574201714

Courts: Bedford

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the utilisation statistics for all court rooms at (a) Shire Hall in Bedford and (b) Bedford County Court and Family Court for (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17 and (iii) 2017 to date.

Lucy Frazer: The courts at Shire Hall Bedford sat for the following hours between 2015 and the end of 2017: Courtroom Data 2015/16Courtroom Data 2016/17Courtroom Data April-December 2017*Chamber/ CourtroomMagstrates' CourtCounty/ Family CourtTribunalsMagstrates' CourtCounty/ Family CourtTribunalsMagstrates' CourtCounty/ Family CourtTribunalsChambers 01086800874006360Chambers 02062000716003210Courtroom 013200350000185Courtroom 02460000001130Courtroom 0301800111002320Courtroom 04506301478002010Courtroom 05170300738005380Total1292,2720482,516002,040185 County court utilisation includes the civil and family jurisdictions. Utilisation data for Count Court and Employment Tribunals are manually collected and therefore may be affected by associated measurement and recording errors.

Employment Tribunals Service: Bedford

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunal hearings have been listed at Shire Hall in (a) 2015–16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017 to date.

Lucy Frazer: It is not possible to provide an answer to this question from centrally held data as this does not differentiate between different court locations in Bedford. Since the employment tribunal building in Bedford ceased to hold public hearings in September 2017, the administration of cases has moved to Watford and has not differentiated between cases heard in that office and in Bedford.

Courts: Bedford

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has for the future of court services in Bedford when the lease expires on the building that hosts Luton County and Family Court on 9 January 2020; and what provision he has made for court services in Luton and Bedfordshire when that lease expires.

Lucy Frazer: HM Courts & Tribunals Service is currently considering options regarding the future court estate in Bedfordshire. The Shire Hall building will only close subject to a public consultation regarding the distribution of the work currently heard in the building, which will be published in due course.

Cohabitation

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to enable cohabiting couples to share financial and property rights.

Lucy Frazer: The Government will be considering how to proceed in relation to proposals made by the Law Commission in the context of any further reforms to the family justice system.

Immigration: Appeals

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of immigration appeals were overturned at tribunal in each of the last six months.

Lucy Frazer: The First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) is administered by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).The proportion of successful immigration appeals, overturning the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s decision, in each of the last six months for which published data are available is:July 17 PAugust 17 PSept 17 POctober 17 PNov 17 PDec 17 P51%48%48%49%51%50% P: Provisional data taken from a live management information system and subject to change.

Treasury

Environment Protection: Public Bodies

Clive Lewis: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the quantum of additional funding to be provided to enable the establishment of a new UK Environmental Protection Agency.

Robert Jenrick: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been allocated £310m additional funding in 2018-19 from the Reserve to address additional activities arising from the UK’s exit from the European Union. These activities include establishing a new environmental body. The government will be consulting shortly on environmental governance, including proposals for this body.

Annuities: Low Incomes

Craig Mackinlay: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury of 19 October 2016 sale of annuities Official Report, column 812, what the timetable is for his Department to publish plans to support pensioners on low incomes with annuities.

John Glen: In October 2016, the Government announced that it would not continue with proposals to create a secondary market in annuities. The conditions required for a competitive market could not be balanced with sufficient consumer protections and it would not have been appropriate to allow a market to develop which would have produced poor outcomes for consumers. The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people, with a full new State Pension now worth £164.35 per week. In addition, the Government provides Pension Credit which targets help towards the poorest pensioners who for whatever reason have been unable to provide for their retirement. The Government also provides bus passes for free travel once an individual reaches the female State Pension age and Winter Fuel Payments to help with heating costs during the winter.

Treasury: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Robert Jenrick: The number of working days absent, the number of people absent and the proportion of people absent with mental illness can be found in the following table:   YearCategory2014/152015/162016/17Total number of days absent in year935424588.5Number of people absent with mental illness363431Proportion of paid HMT staff3%3%2% Note: HM Treasury does not breakdown mental disorders to particular types, all mental illness, including stress, is rolled into this one category

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Sleeping Rough: Supported Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will expand the clearing house scheme of housing for people with a history of rough sleeping.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government is committed to finding a way to provide additional, coordinated move-on accommodation for rough sleepers, building on the existing 3,750 ‘clearing house’ places which are already provided by housing associations in London. The Department is working with the National Housing Federation to explore the possibility of extending this London-based scheme nationally.

Building Regulations Advisory Committee

Steve Double: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with the Building Regulations Advisory Committee on the scope of the review of guidance in Approved Document M Volume 2.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Private Rented Housing: Universal Credit

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has (a) commissioned and (b) completed an (i) external and (ii) internal analysis of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the availability of private rented accommodation for households receiving the housing element of universal credit.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We are committed to working with the Department for Work and Pensions and stakeholders across the private rented sector to understand how we can make best use of our financial levers and existing powers to support tenants to access good quality and affordable accommodation. Universal Credit is already significantly improving the rate at which those claiming benefits return to work. Being in employment improves the housing choices of those who would otherwise have remained dependent on benefits.More than 1 million people in England who rent privately are in receipt of Housing Benefit and the housing element of Universal Credit (over 200,000 in London). In December 44 per cent of households claiming housing support under Universal Credit were in the private rented sector.The Government is helping benefit claimants to access the private rented sector where LHA rates have diverged the most from local rents through further Targeted Affordability Funding in 2018/19 and 2019/20 and enhanced Discretionary Housing Payment funding for local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants impacted by welfare reforms such as freeze to LHA rates.

Housing: Finance

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 132182 on the return of £817 million to the Treasury, if he will provide a breakdown of the original intended recipients of the funding that has now been returned.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Planning Obligations

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the value was of planning obligations agreed to in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion of that value was attributed to (a) direct payments, (b) affordable housing and (c) other types of contributions.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Affordable Housing: Young People

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to make housing more affordable for young people.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Since 2010 we have delivered over 357,000 new affordable homes, including over 257,000 affordable homes for rent.We are providing over £9 billion funding for the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21, to deliver a wide range of affordable housing to meet the housing needs of a range of people in different circumstances and with different housing needs.

Social Rented Housing: Construction

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his department is taking to build new social housing.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Since 2010 we have delivered over 357,000 new affordable homes,including over 257,000 affordable homes for rent.We are providing over £9 billion funding for the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21, this includes an additional £2 billion which will be available for social rent.We have confirmed long-term rent certainty for social landlords in England and announced that we will be providing councils with £1 billion of additional borrowing to deliver homes where demand is greatest. These measures will support housing associations and local authorities build more genuinely affordable homes where they are needed most.

Social Rented Housing: Consultation Papers

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2018 to Question 125886, when he plans to publish the social housing green paper.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We have been listening to tenants through a process of engagement which finished on 10 April, and over 7,000 people have shared their views across a wide range of concerns.We intend to publish the Social Housing Green Paper in the next few months.

Help to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the loss in value of Help to Buy equity loans owed to the Exchequer as a result of the discovery of unsafe cladding.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

System Building: Safety

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to support local authorities address safety concerns in relation to large panel system buildings since his Department’s letter of 5 September 2017.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Antisemitism

Mr Alistair Carmichael: What steps his Department is taking to tackle antisemitism.

James Brokenshire: Anti-semitism must be understood for what it is – racism against Jewish people. There can be no excuses for anti-semitism. My Department has led the way across government in tackling anti-semitism, as my Rt Hon Friend, Sajid Javid, highlighted in this House on 17 April. This requires actions, not just words, as this government is doing.

Housing: Construction

Gordon Henderson: What steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to build new homes.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: New homes should be built out as soon as possible once planning permission is granted. Under this Government, new house building starts are at their highest levels for nine years – we are building on progress by revising the National Planning Policy Framework, diversifying the market to increase the pace of development, and have commissioned my Rt Hon Friend, the member for West Dorset, to lead a review of build out rates.

Leasehold: Unfair Practices

Mr William Wragg: What steps his Department is taking to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold system.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We are committed to tackling unfair leasehold practices, which is why we are working with the Law Commission to make buying your freehold or extending your lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper. We want to ensure leaseholders have the right support to deal with onerous ground rent and will consider further action if developer’s schemes to compensate individuals don’t go far enough.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Housing

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many properties in Service Family Accommodation are graded (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E and (f) F.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the criteria are for assessing houses in Service Family Accommodation as grade (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, and (f)F.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



The methodology for assessing the appropriate Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) band for each individual Service Family Accommodation (SFA) is set out in JSP 464 Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter 5. It can be accessed through the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/699815/20180416-JSP_464_Volume_3_Part_1_-_Version_7.pdf The number of SFA within each CAAS Band is as follows: CAASBandABCDEFSFA7,08316,31516,7003,9323,346921 All Service Personnel who meet the criteria for SFA are entitled to housing at decent homes standard or above as set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. No Service family is obliged to accept a home below this standard.

Tornado Aircraft: Accidents

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of Exhibit 606 as listed in Part 2 of the Service Inquiry report into the accident involving Tornado GR4 ZD743 and Tornado GR4 ZD812 over the Moray Firth on 3 July 2012.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence holds a copy of Exhibit 606, which is currently being retrieved from our archives. I will write to the hon. Member in due course with the relevant information.

Ministry of Defence: Contracts

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's policy is on the (a) employment and (b) involvement in any Ministry of Defence contracts of (i) spouses of Members of Parliament, (b) spouses of Ministers and (c) the spouse of the Prime Minister.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Civil Servants are appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition and are expected to carry out their role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.The Ministry of Defence (MOD) requires all Crown servants to make their line manager or Commanding Officer aware of any potential conflict of interest that arises during their service. The MOD requires the line manager or Commanding Officer to work with the Crown servant to take appropriate action to ensure that an actual conflict of interest does not take place.In accordance with the Ministerial Code, on appointment to each new office, Ministers must provide their Permanent Secretary with a full list in writing of all interests which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. The list should also cover interests of the Minister's spouse or partner and close family which might be thought to give rise to a conflict.

Armed Forces: Defence Equipment

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to trial dismounted position and navigation sensors for the armed forces.

Guto Bebb: Trials of dismounted position and navigation sensors have not yet been planned but are expected to form part of our acquisition of replacement capabilities. The Ministry of Defence sees dismounted position and navigation sensors as an important capability and intends to introduce these into service to enhance situational awareness for dismounted troops.

Trident Submarines

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 28 March 2018 that his Department will have access to £600 million for the Dreadnought program this coming financial year, how these additional funds will be spent; and for what reasons access to additional funds was required.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the contingency fund for the Dreadnought programme that has been used to supplement that programme’s costs to date.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of how much money from the Dreadnought programme’s contingency fund will be spent by that programme’s completion.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence given by Ms Cat Little to the Public Accounts Committee on 14 March 2018, HC 880, whether his Department expects the projected costs of the Dreadnought programme to increase.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence given by Ms Cat Little to the Public Accounts Committee on 14 March 2018, HC 880, how much money does his Department plan to bring forward to fund the Dreadnought programme.

Guto Bebb: As the Prime Minister announced in Parliament on 28 March (Official Report, column 756), the Ministry of Defence has been given access to £600 million in 2018-19 from the £10 billion contingency for the Dreadnought programme announced in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. This will allow us to drive out cost and risk later in the programme and ensures best value for the taxpayer. This will ensure the Dreadnought programme remains on track to be delivered on time and within its overall £31 billion forecast.

Trident Submarines

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Q97 of the oral evidence given by Stephen Lovegrove to the Public Accounts Committee on 14 March 2018, HC 880, what assessment his Department has made of the likelihood of the projected costs of funding the UK’s warhead programme, the Trident II missile programme and the common missile compartment programme increasing.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence conducts rigorous analysis before taking investment decisions, and our costings are frequently revised to reflect the latest and best available information.The Department manages its programmes to achieve value for the taxpayer.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Johnny Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 17 of the Quinquennial Review of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme ‘One Year On’ Report, published on 9 April 2018, what estimate he has made of the number of service personnel with (a) the most serious injuries and (b) brain injuries that will qualify for the (i) uplift of the top tariff level 1 award and (ii) increase the cap on the cumulative lump sum for multiple awards.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



The amendments to Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) legislation from 9 April 2018 are not retrospective. Eligible Service personnel who make AFCS claims from 9 April 2018 will benefit from the uplifts and increases in compensation values.

Russia: Warships

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on (a) how many occasions and (b) which dates UK warships escorted Russian ships out of English territorial waters into international waters during 2017.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbeldon), on 29 March 2018 to Question HL6834 in the House of Lords.



HL6834 - WQnA extract on Territorial Waters
(Word Document, 22.26 KB)

Submarine Delivery Agency

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the implications are for the work of the Single Source Regulations Office on the procurement of the establishment of the Submarine Delivery Agency.

Guto Bebb: All eligible single source contracts placed by the Submarine Delivery Agency will be covered by the single source procurement legislation. The Single Source Regulations Office will have the same role on these contracts as they do with other such contracts.

Islamic State: Military Intervention

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Raytheon Sentinel R1 radar surveillance aircraft are currently deployed in support of Operation Shader.

Mark Lancaster: Sentinel aircraft are currently deployed in the Middle East. They support Op SHADER and other tasking, as dictated by strategic necessity.

Sentinel Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to maintain capabilities currently provided by RAF Sentinel R1 aircraft after 2021.

Guto Bebb: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Defence, the right hon. Earl Howe to the noble Lord, Lord Moonie of Bennochy to Question HL3584 in the House of Lords.



HL3584 - WQnA extract on Sentinel Aircraft
(Word Document, 21.77 KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

State Retirement Pensions

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes her Department uses to notify people of their state pension entitlement.

Guy Opperman: Provided that a person has a National Insurance number, we will normally send them details about their options for claiming their State Pension (including how they can put off claiming State Pension to get extra State Pension), to the address held for them on our computer systems about four months before they reach State Pension age.In law, the responsibility for claiming any benefit lies with the person concerned. However, as part of our service to people approaching State Pension age, we provide some initial information about their pension entitlement and invite them to complete their State Pension claim either online, by phone or using the specific claim form.We try to contact people to invite them to make a claim to State Pension but this can only succeed where the latest address held on our records is correct. These records are updated when claims are made or, in some cases, when National Insurance contribution queries are investigated. Otherwise, we rely on the individual notifying us of a change of address.While a person may not receive their individual notification about claiming their State Pension, most people know when to claim. Each person should make appropriate enquiries about State Pension entitlement if they do not hear from us. There is an extensive range of information about the State Pension and social security benefits online at www.gov.uk.Bottom of FormWhen a valid State Pension claim has been made, a DWP decision maker notifies a customer by letter of any entitlement. DWP then issues annual State Pension increase notifications by letter to customers’ based on the Chancellor’s Budget Announcement to confirm the new rate of State Pension payable each April.

State Retirement Pensions

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have not received notification of state pension entitlement within two months of retirement  in each of the last three years.

Guy Opperman: This information is only available at disproportionate cost.

State Retirement Pensions

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department provides compensation to people who do not receiver notification of state pension entitlement within two months of their retirement date.

Guy Opperman: DWP aims to award State Pension claims within 10 workings days of the date in which the customer chose their claim to commence. On the occasions when a customer is dissatisfied with the service provided by the Department, the DWP complaints procedure includes the provision for a special payment to be made for any delays which may have occurred.

State Retirement Pensions

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have retired in advance of receipt of notification of their state pension entitlement in each of the last three years.

Guy Opperman: This information is only available at disproportionate cost.

*No heading*

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of carer's allowance.

Sarah Newton: The information requested on the number of individuals in receipt of Carer’s Allowance is published and available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit: Pneumoconiosis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who have had their claim to industrial injuries disablement benefit disallowed as a result of a lack of medical evidence of pneumoconiosis.

Sarah Newton: The latest available data covering claimants who were assessed for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be found in the Official Statistics data tables “Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit quarterly statistics: data to June 2017” published in February 2018 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682401/iidb_quarterly_statistics-june-2017.ods Table IIDB1_10: “Industrial Injury first diagnosed prescribed diseases all assessments in the quarter by type of disease” shows the number of assessments for D1 (Pneumoconiosis, Asbestosis and Silicosis) each quarter while Table IIDB1_10A: “Industrial Injury first diagnosed prescribed diseases all assessments resulting in payment in the quarter by type of disease” shows the number of awards resulting in payment for D1 each quarter. The latest date for which published data is available is 30th June 2017 and new data is published quarterly. Individual reasons for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit disallowances are not centrally recorded by the Department.

Universal Credit

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2018 to Question 123902, how many claims for universal credit were paid an advance of of (a) less than £50, (b) £50.01-£100, (c) £100.01-£150, (d) £150.01-£200, (e) £200.01-£250, (f) £250.01-£300, (g) £300.01-£350, (h) £350.01-£400, (i) £400.01-£450, (j) £450.01-£500, (k) £500-01-£600, (l) £550.01-£660 and (m) greater than £600 in each month from 1 January 2018 up to and including the week beginning 26 March 2018.

Alok Sharma: We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including advances, in the near future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.

Universal Credit: Payments

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2018 to Question 124171, what proportion of new claims for universal credit under full service overall received (a) full payment on time or (b) some payment on time from 1 January 2018 up to and including the week beginning 26 March 2018.

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2018 to Question 124171, what proportion of new claims for universal credit under full service received (a) full payment on time or (b) some payment on time in each week from 1 January 2018 up to and including the week beginning 26 March 2018.

Alok Sharma: We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including payment timeliness, in the near future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on disability access to buildings that it (a) owns or (b) manages.

Kit Malthouse: The Department has not owned any buildings since 2003, and leases all of its estate. The Department takes our responsibility to ensure all our customers have access to our services without disadvantage very seriously. Every DWP office has been assessed to ensure that we are compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Where suitable physical adaptations to buildings are not possible, the Department provides an alternative method of delivering our services where we are made aware that a customer has potential access issues, such as an appointment would be rearranged at a ground floor location or by a home visit.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of her Department's buildings fail to comply with its policies on disability access; and where those buildings are located.

Kit Malthouse: There are no buildings that fail to comply with the Department’s policies on disability access to our services. The Department takes our responsibility to ensure all our customers have access to our services without disadvantage very seriously. Every DWP office has been assessed to ensure that we are compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Where suitable physical adaptations to buildings are not possible, the Department provides an alternative method of delivering our services where we are made aware that a customer has potential access issues, such as an appointment would be rearranged at a ground floor location or by a home visit.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on disability access to buildings owned or managed by her Department's contractors.

Kit Malthouse: The Department takes our responsibility to ensure all our customers have access to our services without disadvantage very seriously. Every DWP office has been assessed to ensure that we are compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Where suitable physical adaptations to buildings are not possible, the Department provides an alternative method of delivering our services where we are made aware that a customer has potential access issues, such as an appointment would be rearranged at a ground floor location or by a home visit.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many buildings managed by contractors of her Department fail to comply with her Department's disabled access policy; and where those buildings are located.

Kit Malthouse: There are no buildings that fail to comply with the Department’s policies on disability access to our services. The Department takes our responsibility to ensure all our customers have access to our services and facilities without disadvantage very seriously. Every DWP office has been assessed to ensure that we are compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Where suitable physical adaptations to buildings are not possible, the Department provides an alternative method of delivering our services where we are made aware that a customer has potential access issues, such as an appointment would be rearranged at a ground floor location or by a home visit.

Department for Work and Pensions: Parking

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on ensuring that people accessing buildings managed by (a) her Department and (b) her Department's contractors have access to parking within twenty metres of those buildings.

Kit Malthouse: The Department does not have a policy on ensuring that people accessing our buildings have access to parking within twenty meters as there is no requirement to provide parking facilities for staff or the public.

Department for Work and Pensions: Parking

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of the buildings managed by (a) her Department and (b) her Department's contractors do not have access to parking within 20 metres; and where those buildings are located.

Kit Malthouse: This information is not held.

Universal Credit: Haringey

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what exact roll-out date for universal credit is planned for the London Borough of Haringey.

Alok Sharma: The current roll out schedule can be accessed on gov.uk athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-transition-to-full-service Roll out of Universal Credit Full Service for the London Borough of Haringey is scheduled for October 2018. The exact dates are not finalised until the Commencement Order for the related period of roll out is published.

Universal Credit

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to publish a breadcrumb trail of the universal credit application form to enable claimants to see all of the questions ahead of applying.

Alok Sharma: Claimants apply for Universal Credit online and answer a series of relevant questions. This application asks certain questions based on a claimant’s personal circumstances, and some given answers will prompt further associated questions. As claimants’ circumstances will be different, not all claimants will be asked the same questions and the application is personalised to each individual.

Universal Credit: Young People

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of young people who applied for universal credit upon turning 20 and whose parents receive a disability premium; and what the average waiting time between applying for and claiming universal credit is for those people.

Alok Sharma: The data requested is not readily available and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Young People

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of premiums claimed for universal credit after the age of 20; and how many of those people requested a mandatory reconsideration of the work capability assessment.

Alok Sharma: The data requested is going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with National Statistic and Official Statistics publication standards. We will announce the release date, as per the protocol of release of statistics, when they are ready.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Cultural Heritage

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to include provisions on heritage and the historic environment in the forthcoming agriculture Bill; and what representations he has received on that topic.

George Eustice: The Government published “Health and Harmony: The future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit” on 27 February. At the heart of our proposals is a new system of paying farmers and land managers “public money for public goods”. Amongst the public goods we are consulting on are the preservation of environmental goods including enhancing beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment. Other public goods could include the preservation of traditional farming and landscapes in certain areas, and public access to the countryside. The consultation also seeks views on what other public goods the Government should support. We are currently analysing the responses received to the consultation so far. The consultation closes on 8 May and we will publish a response in due course.

Plastics

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with drinks manufacturers on replacing plastic straws with paper straws.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government has actively engaged with a wide range of industry groups, including drinks manufacturers and their representative organisations, on measures to both minimise the waste from single-use plastics and increase recycling as part of the commitment we gave to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in our 25 Year Environment Plan. We recently announced our plans to ban plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds which will be subject to a full formal consultation with industry and others. We will continue to work with those groups and local authorities as we take forward the actions needed to deliver the Plan.

Fly Tipping: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many waste businesses or sole traders have been prosecuted for illegal waste tipping offences in (a) Coventry and (b) the West Midlands since 2015.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency has not prosecuted any waste businesses or sole traders in Coventry since 2015 but has prosecuted five waste businesses or sole traders in the West Midlands since 2015.

Diesel Vehicles: Merseyside

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect ofdieselengines on air quality in (a) Wallasey constituency, (b) Wirral and (c) Merseyside.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The national pollution climate mapping modelling includes assessment of air quality within Wallasey, Wirral and Merseyside. Our latest modelling for the 2017 national plan showed no air pollutant exceedances in Wallasey and Wirral. There were modelled exceedances of nitrogen dioxide in Liverpool City Council in Merseyside. Of these exceedances, 66% of the modelled concentrations were attributable to emissions from diesel engines for the Liverpool Urban Area reporting zone.

Home Office

Knives: Crime

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her article in The Daily Telegraph of 7 April 2018, we are determined to tackle violent crime, and there are enough officers on the streets to do so, if she will publish the statistical data on which the levels of knife crime were cited.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office publishes Open Data Tables on the number of selected offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales at the police force area level. The data are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables The police have the resources they need to do their important work. The police funding settlement for 2018/19 increases overall investment in policing by £460m, including over £280m from increased local funding through Council Tax. Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met. Many PCCs have set out their intention to use their additional funding to maintain or enhance front line policing.

Police Custody: Children

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of children living in the London Borough of Lewisham who spent time in a police station as a place of safety as a result of a mental health condition in each of the last seven years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold centrally the information requested. The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, including information on where the person is detained, and whether they are under 18 or aged 18 years and over, at police force area level only. These data were collected on a mandatory basis for the first time in 2016/17, and are published as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2017  Figures for the period 2014/15 and 2015/16 were published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and can be accessed using the following links:http://www.npcc.police.uk/documents/edhr/2015/Section%20136%20MHA%20201415%20Data.pdfhttp://www.npcc.police.uk/documents/S136%20Data%202015%2016.pdfData are not available for previous years. The Home Office does not hold this information for individual London boroughs.

Drugs: Crime

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people susceptible to drug (a) use, (b) selling and (c) running as a result of (i) homelessness, (ii) exclusion from school and (iii) living in care.

Victoria Atkins: The latest data on homelessness, school exclusions and looked after children are available at the following links, respectively:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessnesshttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2015-to-2016https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017

Domestic Appliances: Fires

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with the National Fire Chiefs Council on reducing fires in the home with an electrical source of ignition.

Mr Nick Hurd: As a standing member of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Home Safety Committee, Home Office officials routinely discuss electrical safety issues with the NFCC to ensure opportunities to drive down electrical fires and promote electrical safety are utilised.The Department has facilitated close links between the NFCC, product safety officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the sector-led Register My Appliance initiative to encourage fire and rescue services to increase the focus on electrical and product safety within their engagement with members of the public.The Home Office’s national fire safety campaign, run in partnership with the NFCC, collaborates with Electrical Safety First to run the annual Electrical Fire Safety Week. The Week is used by fire and rescue services and others to promote electrical fire safety messages.

Domestic Appliances: Fires

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy on reducing the number of electrical fires in the home caused by faulty white goods.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office has collaborated with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to support and promote the Register My Appliance initiative, run by the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Electrical Appliances. This is designed to improve product recall rates and ensure a greater number of faulty products can be traced and either repaired or removed from homes.Home Office officials will continue to work closely with product safety officials, following the creation of the Office of Product Safety and Standards, to explore what else can be done to support their work around faulty white goods.

Hunting

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) reports, and (b) investigations of alleged illegal fox hunting there have been in each year since 2010 in (i) the West Midlands, (ii) Warwickshire and (iii) England and Wales.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not centrally hold the information requested. The enforcement of the Hunting Act 2004 is an operational matter for the police.

Slavery

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure police forces have identified a single point of contact on modern slavery and exploitation at the (a) strategic command and (b) tactical investigative level.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that single points of contact for victims of modern slavery and exploitation (a) share best practice (b) convene quarterly regional meetings and (c) convene six-monthly national meetings.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to increase the capacity of the Modern Slavery Threat Group to produce intelligence-based assessments of the (a) national, (b) regional, and (c) cross-border threat from modern slavery.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 4 of the Modern Slavery Act Review, what steps her Department have taken to introduce training for front-line (a) police officers and (b) criminal justice staff to (i) raise awareness of and (b) support victims of modern slavery.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 5 of the Modern Slavery Act Review, what support has her Department provided to the Modern Slavery Threat Group to establish an online resource centre for (a) single points of contact and (b) approved account holders working for other organisations.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 6 of the Modern Slavery Act Review, what support has her Department provided to the Modern Slavery Threat Group to (a) improve data collection by disseminating guidance on which cases should be recorded as exploitative or trafficking offences, and (b) enforce the use of nationally consistent processes to (i) collect and (ii) assess data and intelligence from partner organisations.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 7 of the Modern Slavery Act Review, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that all complainants in (a) trafficking and (b) exploitation cases provide statements to police officers who are trained to deal with vulnerable witnesses.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recommendation 8 of the Modern Slavery Act Review, what steps her Department has taken to adopt the two-stage Achieving Best Evidence interview process.

Victoria Atkins: In October 2016 the Home Secretary announced £8.5m of additional funding would be made available to police forces in England and Wales to transform the policing response to modern slavery. The funding from the Police Transformation Fund has provided for nearly 70 new and dedicated roles to provide the police with improved intelligence, better training and specialist tactical advice to overhaul and strengthen the operational response. Included in the additional capabilities are:Single Points of Contact (SPOCs)Forces have been encouraged to identify tactical and strategic SPOCs and have been given an action plan for SPOCs to help them develop best practice. A programme of roadshows and events that bring these SPOCs together at each level has taken place over the last year and this schedule projects forward beyond the end of the funding period.Intelligence and DataThe Joint Slavery and Trafficking Analysis Centre (JSTAC) is building and developing the strategic intelligence picture by improving data collection and analysis of the information gathered. To aid in international dissemination of information, a seconded national expert to Europol to coordinate activity between UK law enforcement and European counterparts during cross-border investigations has been implemented. Supporting the JSTAC, the police national insight team and regional analysts located in the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) provide regular intelligence products to inform policing at a national, regional, and force level.All three of the analytical teams, and a separate team dedicated to overcoming challenges in the dissemination of NRM material are contributing to guidance to forces about crime recording, and intelligence flows within law enforcement and between partners.Training and dealing with vulnerable peopleThe College of Policing accredited programme of training activity for all frontline police officers and staff, was launched in July 2017. Over 120 police trainers have been trained in delivering an awareness raising module within forces. Over 1000 frontline staff have attended awareness raising roadshows organised in each region. In addition, funding has been made available for a specialist training course for detectives working on modern slavery cases, which include advice and guidance on supporting victims through the CJS process. To date over 300 investigators have gone through these courses. In addition, new specialist guidance for officers who interview vulnerable victims of trafficking has been developed and over 575 interviewers have received training linked to this. Resources to support investigators, analysts and front line staff in the police, and appropriate other agencies, are available through the College of Policing Polka site.One of the two victim advocacy roles within the Modern Slavery Police Transformation Programme has focused on improving the use of the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) process in modern slavery cases, in light of the recommendation made in the Modern Slavery Act Review. This includes developing specialist interview techniques for victims reporting modern slavery. The approach has been endorsed by the College of Policing and promoted to over 575 existing ABE interviewers to date.The Crown Prosecution Service has delivered mandatory face to face accredited training for prosecutors to develop expertise and build resilience in complex casework units, central casework units and for criminal justice advisors overseas.OutcomesAs a result of this investment the number of modern slavery law enforcement operations ongoing at any one time have more than tripled (from 188 in December 2018 to 643 in March 2018). As of March 2018, police services are working to identify and protect at least 1500 vulnerable persons who the police consider may be victims of modern slavery.

Criminal Records: Disclosure of Information

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the case of R (QSA and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Justice [2018] EWHC 407 (Admin), if she will assess the equity of the criminal record disclosure regime to ensure that it balances the public interest with the rights of an individual applicant for employment.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, following the case of R (QSA and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Justice [2018] EWHC 407 (Admin), if she will ensure that the criminal record disclosure regime enables the filtering of multiple minor offences.

Victoria Atkins: The Government believes that the disclosure and barring arrangements currently in place provide the right balance between protecting the public, giving employers the information they need to make safer recruitment decisions and allowing ex-offenders to gain employment. The High Court judgment in the case of R (QSA and others) was handed down on 2 March. The Government has been granted permission to appeal the judgment. Standard and enhanced criminal record certificates are available when an applicant seeks to work with children, vulnerable people or in other specified roles. Under the statutory arrangements, certain old and minor convictions and cautions are not disclosed. Multiple offences for which an individual has received a caution may be filtered. The filtering provisions are not, however, available to anyone who has:received more than one conviction;been sentenced to custody; orreceived a conviction or caution for a listed offence.

Human Trafficking: Compensation

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much compensation has been received by victims of trafficking identified by the Gangmasters' Licensing Authority in each year since 2014.

Victoria Atkins: During the financial years 2014/15 to 2017/18, no prosecutions arising from investigations by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority resulted in compensation orders for victims of trafficking identified by the Authority.

Human Trafficking: Sexual Offences

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which agency is leading Operation Aidant; and between which agencies have partnership agreements been established.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many potential victims of trafficking have been (a) identified and (b) referred to the National Referral Mechanism under Operation Aidant.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many arrests for illegal working have been made during Operation Aidant.

Victoria Atkins: Project AIDANT is the series of multi-agency operational intensifications to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking led by the National Crime Agency. During 2017 all UK territorial police forces, including the British Transport Police, took part along with other law enforcement agencies including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Immigration Enforcement, Border Force, Europol, DWP, HMRC and Regional Organised Crime Units. Activities under Project AIDANT were also supported by NGOs, Local Authorities and Fire and Rescue Services in some areas. During 2017, over 560 potential victims were identified through Project AIDANT activity with 57 cases reported as having been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and 77 to Duty to Notify (DtN). The number of potential victims includes victims encountered overseas during the operations who do not qualify for referral to the UK NRM and DTN.Data on arrests for illegal working is not captured by the NCA.

Salvation Army: Contracts

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether regular safeguarding inspections of sub-contractors are carried out by the Salvation Army in its capacity as  the Government’s modern slavery victim care contract manager.

Victoria Atkins: The Salvation Army (TSA) are contracted by the Home Office to deliver the Victim Care Contract, which ensures that the needs of adult potential victims of modern slavery are met. This includes accommodation, medical care, counselling, translation services and a dedicated specialist support worker. TSA are required to adhere to the Home Office’s own requirements in respect of safeguarding.TSA subcontracts to a network of 13 subcontractors in England and Wales to deliver this service. Within the contract, there are requirements for subcontractors to be inspected on a regular basis; these are inspections on both accommodation standards and safeguarding, which are carried out annually.The Salvation Army undertakes routine safeguarding checks of all subcontracted provision – undertaken by their independent inspection team. The Key Performance Indicators show that these inspections consistently prove satisfactory across all subcontractors.

*No heading*

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action she is taking to ensure adequate access to housing for the Windrush generation.

Caroline Nokes: Appropriate safeguarding processes are built into compliant environment measures, including the right to redress, but clearly there is more to be done here. We are reviewing compliant environment measures and taking immediate action to introduce additional safeguards to protect Windrush generation cases. These cases will be dealt with quickly and sensitively. The Home Office has also sent out communications urging other government departments and public authorities to exercise particular care when responding to applications for benefits and services from the Windrush generation. Guidance has also been added to the www.gov.uk website advising landlords on what they should do - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/landlords-immigration-right-to-rent-checks Individuals who are unable to access housing in the UK as a result of not provide the appropriate documentation to show that they are entitled to live in the UK should contact the Home Office, by telephone on 0800 678 1925 or by emailing commonwealthtaskforce@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. The team will help the applicants to demonstrate that they are entitled to live in the UK and will aim to resolve cases within two weeks when the evidence has been provided.

Harvey Weinstein

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the Metropolitan Police on investigations into the allegations made against Harvey Weinstein in the UK.

Mr Nick Hurd: We expect every report of sexual violence and rape to be treated seriously from the time it is reported, every victim to be treated with dignity, and every investigation and prosecution to be conducted thoroughly and professionally. The principle of operational independence means that the management of investigations is a matter for police forces under the direction and control of chief officers.When a complaint has been made to the police, it is their responsibility to decide whether there are sufficient grounds to launch a criminal investigation. Ministers and officials are unable to intervene in individual cases or in operational decisions made by the police.

Immigration: Ethnic Groups

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of whether her Department has carried out immigration status checks on a disproportionate number of BAME citizens as a result of the Government's hostile environment policy.

Caroline Nokes: A wide range of bodies conduct compliant environment checks under immigration and other legislation to prevent immigration offending and to protect public services from misuse. Codes of practice issued by the Home Office regarding the compliant environment are clear that status checks by employers and landlords must be conducted on a non-discriminatory basis. Public authorities must comply with the Equality Act in administering services. Where the Home Office is asked to confirm the immigration status of an individual, this will usually be done with their consent, but the Home Office does not require nor record the race, colour or ethnic background of the individual concerned.

Passports: Contracts

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has produced an impact assessment of the decision on the new contract to produce UK passports.

Caroline Nokes: A comprehensive assessment was carried out to inform the decision to award the contract to produce UK passports, as part of the procurement process, and this included analysis within a number of areas. The information captured within these assessments is commercially sensitive and the Home Office has no plans to publish this information on that basis.

India: Visas

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will respond to EDM 876 on visitor visas for people from India.

Caroline Nokes: The UK continues to work with India to develop our bilateral relationship to deliver real benefits to both countries.Visitors from India are important to our tourism market and the Government is committed to offering the most efficient and customer focused visa service in India.Since January 2016 the UK has offered a two-year validity visit visa to Chinese nationals for the same price as a six-month visa. This is a pilot scheme, which we are running to assess the benefits and impacts of such an approach, and which will be subject to proper evaluation. There are currently no plans to extend this pilot to any other countries.

Sexual Offences: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) sexual assault and (b) rape were reported in (i) Coventry and (ii) the West Midlands in each year since 2015.

Mr Nick Hurd: Data on the number of police recorded sexual assault and rape offences in Coventry and West Midlands police force are published by the Home Office. The latest data, for the year ending September 2017, can be found in the Police Recorded Crime open data Police Force Area tables from year ending March 2013 onwards, and the Police recorded crime Community Safety Partnership open data tables found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables  The Home Office also collects and publishes additional information regarding allegations of rape that the police have received that have not subsequently been recorded as crimes. These data are only available for 2016/17 and can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653120/prc-rape-incidents-march2017.ods

Immigrants: Bank Services

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of bank accounts incorrectly closed as a result of the hostile environment immigration policy between January 2016 and January 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The Immigration Act 2016 banking measures, which provide for the power to close existing bank accounts of known immigration offenders, came into force on 30 October 2017. However, banks and building societies had until 31 March 2018 to conduct their initial checks on all personal current accounts against Home Office disqualified persons data. Under the 2016 Act, no bank accounts were closed between January 2016 and January 2018.

Driving: Licensing

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of driving licences incorrectly revoked as a result of the hostile environment immigration policy between January 2016 and January 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The Immigration Act 2014 provided the power to revoke driving licences from known immigration offenders. There are a number of safeguards in place to ensure that individuals can challenge the decision to revoke their driving licence. If required we are able to reinstate driving licences following representations from applicants. Data held centrally does not record the reason for any subsequent licence reinstatements. Reinstatements can be for a number of reasons.

Detention Centres

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127773, whether her Department is taking steps to assess how immigration detention centres can be monitored more effectively to remove reliance on whistle-blowers to report matters of significant concern.

Caroline Nokes: Independent monitoring of our immigration removal centres (IRC) is vital to ensuring that each centre provides a secure and humane environment for detainees. Robust statutory oversight is provided by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Independent Monitoring Boards, ensuring that detainees are treated with proper standards of care and decency.

Visas: Fees and Charges

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 129293, what plans her Department has to record visa application income by category.

Caroline Nokes: The HO has no plans to record visa application income by category. The income system does not provide the necessary Management Information to enable us to do so, and we have no reporting or statutory requirement for it to do so.

UK Border Force

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 128806, which (a) police and (b) other law enforcement bodies have given advice to her Department on the potential merits of establishing a Special Volunteer force within Border Force.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 128806, whether her Department plans to consult non-public sector bodies on the potential merits of establishing a Special Volunteer force within Border Force.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018, by what criteria her Department plans to assess whether a Special Volunteer force within Border Force provides benefits and bolsters existing activity.

Caroline Nokes: Formal discussions have taken place with Norfolk Police Constabulary, National Crime Agency and Maritime Coastguard Agency, Informal discussions have included Essex & Kent Police Force and Metropolitan Police Force.There are no current plans to consult non public sector bodies. Currently a proposal regarding the pilot is being prepared for discussion with Senior Border Force Officials to consider if the pilot scheme will proceed at this time.The purpose of a small pilot potentially being held will be to assess the benefit on existing activities.

Undocumented Workers

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2018 to Question 129585, whether anyone has been found not to have the right to work in the UK by her Department in response to queries from or on behalf of any employer or any employee since 2015.

Caroline Nokes: The Employer Checking Service will identify individuals who do not possess a statutory excuse to work in the United Kingdom and will inform employers of this status.

Doctors: Migrant Workers

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2018 to Question 129582, on Doctors: Migrant Workers, if she will publish a consultation on doctors from overseas being prevented from working in the NHS on account of immigration rules relating to their salaries.

Caroline Nokes: The Tier 2 (General) minimum salary thresholds for overseas doctors were set following consultation with the independent Migration Advisory Committee and are based on pay scales published by the NHS – and have remained at their current levels since April 2017.We continue to monitor the operation of this route ensure that it strikes the right balance between supporting businesses accessing talent from overseas and our commitment to reducing net migration and protecting jobs for British workers.

Asylum

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraphs 5.3 and 5.5 on page 5 of her Department's publication entitled The Home Office response to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report: An Inspection of the Home Office’s Asylum Intake & Casework. April – August 2017, whether her Department has published its review of policies and practices to ensure that it does not discriminate against any particular groups; whether her Department has completed and plans to publish its review of existing non-straightforward claims (NSF) guidance to ensure that appropriate quality assurance systems are in place; and whether her Department has completed and plans to publish its longer-term review on ensuring that NSF guidance is gender neutral and does not disadvantage particular groups.

Caroline Nokes: In its official response whilst the Home Office accepted the ICI recommendation it did also say that no evidence was provided to support claims of discriminatory practise. However we are reviewing our procedures and will complete our review of NSF guidance by the end of May.As part of Operational plans all cases over 12 months were reviewed in 2017 to ensure any that could be progressed, were progressed, irrespective of the nature of the case.There are no plans to publish guidance on NSF cases or its review as these are internal documents.

Immigrants: Caribbean

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Windrush helpline is staffed by people who are directly employed by her Department.

Caroline Nokes: Yes, the helpline is staffed by people directly employed by the Home Office.

Immigrants: Caribbean

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Minister in her Department is responsible for the Windrush helpline and taskforce.

Caroline Nokes: I, as Immigration Minister, am responsible for the Windrush helpline and taskforce.

Social Media: Radicalism

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent meetings he has had with social media companies to discuss the (a) prevalence, (b) removal and (c) prevention of hate speech and other extreme content on social media platforms.

Victoria Atkins: On 19 December 2017 the Minister responsible for Hate Crime Baroness Williams attended a seminar on online hate that was arranged by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The seminar included representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter. Officials will continue to engage with social media companies about what more they can do to tackle online hate crime. The Home Office is also engaging social media companies in relation to wider harmful content. Officials meet regularly with companies involved in the establishment of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, to seek continued improvements in their response to preventing terrorist use of the internet. In addition, officials are also reaching out to smaller companies to assist them in their efforts of stopping terrorist exploitation of their platforms. Officials are also working with the internet industry to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse online. This includes the removal of illegal images and combating grooming.

Shops: Crimes of Violence

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to reduce the number of attacks on shop workers; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: Violence is unacceptable wherever it takes place, and violence or abuse against retail staff should not be tolerated. We encourage all victims, including shop workers, to report these crimes to the police whenever they occur so that they can be recorded and investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. Through the National Retail Crime Steering Group, we are working with our partners across government, the police and in the retail sector to explore what more can be done to prevent and tackle violence and abuse against retail staff. This includes exploring whether there is more to be done to ensure consistency in the reporting and response to these crimes, and whether there are additional steps that retailers can take to help reduce the risk of violence.

Shops: Crimes of Violence

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has plans to (a) participate and (b) organise events for Respect for Shopworkers' Week.

Victoria Atkins: We are aware of the annual Respect for Shopworkers Week which is organised by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers. We have no plans to organise any specific events during the next Respect Week. However, we are working with the retail sector and the police, through the National Retail Crime Steering Group, to explore what more can be done to tackle violence and abuse against retail staff. The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers is represented on the Steering Group and contributes to its work.

Crimes of Violence: Crime Prevention

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support his Department provides to local authority schemes to reduce levels of violent crime.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office provides support to tackle gang related violence and exploitation through the funding of local and regional reviews. Local authorities can apply for a local review on a match-funded basis if they are experiencing a new or increased threat from gangs such as county lines related violence. This support has largely gone to areas outside of London as the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime provide similar match-funded support to London Boroughs. In addition, we have funded a number of projects delivered by local authorities through the Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation (EGVE) Fund. The Serious Violence Strategy, launched on 9 April, commits to further rounds of the EGVE Fund in 2018/19 and 2019/20. The new strategy also includes the commitment to introduce a new Early Intervention Youth Fund which will support local communities tackle violence.

Police Community Support Officers: Redundancy

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many PCSO’s were made redundant since 2010 in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Coventry and (c) England.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police community support officers who were dismissed from each police force area in England and Wales on an annual basis. Dismissal is defined as “individuals who have been required to resign, made compulsorily redundant, or have had their contract terminated”. It is not possible to separately identity the number of PCSOs who were specifically made redundant from total dismissals. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales Data on the number of PCSOs who were dismissed each year, from 2006/07 to 2016/17, can be found in the Open Data Tables that accompany the main release:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629370/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers.ods

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2018 to Question 135341, what her definition of in due course is in relation to when she plans to respond to the letter of 16 February 2018 referenced M2417/18.

Victoria Atkins: Government is committed to ensuring that victims of modern slavery are comprehensively supported during their time in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), and that they are less vulnerable when they leave specialist support. This is why Government announced comprehensive reforms to the NRM in October 2017, including the introduction of an increased period of ‘move on’ support for those transitioning out of government funded support, and the provision of 6 months drop-in support for those who have leave to remain in the UK. Given the complexities of the issues raised in M2417/18, it is right that the Home Office carefully considers these before responding.

Deportation: Somalia

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been deported from the UK to Somalia in each of the last five years.

Caroline Nokes: The number of enforced returns from the UK to Somalia is published in table rt_05 (returns data tables, volume 5) in ‘Immigration Statistics, October - December 2017’, available from the GOV.uk website at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681251/returns5-oct-dec-2017-tables.odsThe term 'deportations' refers to a legally-defined subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information on those deported is not separately available but the published statistics refer to enforced returns. This includes deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers who have declined to leave voluntarily.

Immigration: Offenders

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy to withhold a decision on applications for further leave to remain in cases where the applicant is facing criminal charges.

Caroline Nokes: It is the Secretary of State’s policy to defer a decision on a leave to remain application where there is a criminal prosecution pending, as the outcome is likely to be material to the decision on that application.How long an application from a person with a pending prosecution recorded against them must be held undecided will depend on what stage the criminal proceedings have reached, and when the relevant criminal justice system is in a position to resolve it. In the majority of cases where a prosecution outcome is awaited, and the outstanding application cannot be refused under the Immigration Rules as it stands on the basis of existing evidence, it may only be resolved once the court case is concluded. Where a person has valid leave when they make an application, their existing immigration status is preserved pending resolution of the application for further leave.

Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, what the timetable is bring forward the regulations to amend the list of informants for the registration of a death to include the categories (a) partner of the deceased’ and (b) personal representative of the deceased.

Caroline Nokes: The introduction of additional qualified informants will be progressed alongside wider Death Certification Reforms contained within the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

Asylum: Education

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers studying at (a) university and (b) school have been prevented from continuing with their studies because they have been placed on immigration bail since the Immigration Act 2016 came into force; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that policy on the (i) wellbeing and (ii) future career prospects of those people.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations (a) her Department and (b) UK Visas and Immigration have received from (a) schools and (b) universities on asylum seekers who have been prevented from continuing with their studies because of immigration bail conditions.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department notifies asylum seekers who have been placed on immigration bail that they are not allowed to continue with their educational studies.

Caroline Nokes: The data requested is not available. Immigration bail does not change existing Home Office policies on access to study and there is nothing in the Immigration Rules to prevent asylum seekers from studying. However, if a failed asylum seeker has exhausted their appeal rights or committed immigration offences, a bail condition preventing study may be imposed.If a person disputes the study restriction on their immigration bail, the remedy is to seek a variation from the Home Office, removing the restriction.The Home Office is not aware of any direct representations from schools or universities regarding a restriction on study as a condition of immigration bail.Individuals are notified of their immigration bail conditions in writing, using a Notification of Grant/Variation of Immigration Bail form (BAIL 201).

Safer Neighbourhood Teams: Wirral

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Safer Neighbourhood teams were operational in Wirral on 1 January 2010.

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Safer Neighbourhood teams were operational in Wirral on 1 January 2018.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold statistics on the number of operational Safer Neighbourhood Policing teams. The Home Office does collect data annually on the function of police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs), including the number of full time equivalent police officers and PCSOs primarily employed in Neighbourhood Policing teams and/or Safer Neighbourhood teams. The Home Office collects these data at police force area level only. This information can be found in the data tables published alongside the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales The latest data available as at 31 March 2017 can be found in Tables F1 and F3 of the police workforce statistics published in July 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629865/police-workforce-tabs-jul17.ods Data prior to 31 March 2015 are not directly comparable with previous years as they were collected under another framework with different definitions. Data under the old framework have been published since 2012, and can be found in the supplementary data tables of the relevant police workforce publications via the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales Officers and PCSOs with multiple responsibilities or designations are recorded under their primary function. Therefore, the data do not provide a complete picture of all officers assigned to neighbourhood policing functions. Further, some forces are not able to make a clear distinction between ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ roles and ‘Incident (Response) Management’ roles, therefore those forces record the majority of, or all, employees under just one function. A more reliable measure is the number of officers employed in ‘Local policing’ roles, which includes both neighbourhood and response functions. Police functions data are often affected by re-structuring within police forces. Therefore, comparisons over time for specific functions should be made with care. Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities.

Biometrics

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals for the regulation of the use of automated facial recognition software.

Mr Nick Hurd: Facial recognition software is a new and potentially valuable law enforcement tool in reducing crime and protecting the public. The Surveillance Camera Code of Practice already requires the use of facial recognition systems to be clearly justified and proportionate in meeting its stated purpose, and data protection legislation and the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice governs the retention of facial images. The Government also plans to improve independent oversight and governance of police use of the technology.

Offences against Children

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce proposals in line with the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published on 25 April 2018, to amend the Police Regulations 2003 to include the requirement that a police officer and staff equivalent (a) have operational policing experience in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse and (b) achieve accreditation in the role of the police service in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse to progress to Chief Officer level.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals for the College of Policing to develop training content and accreditation arrangements for officers on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in line with the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published on 25 April 2018.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals to prevent complaints relating to child sexual abuse being disapplied by police forces on the grounds that the incident involved took place more than 12 months before the complaint was submitted.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward proposals to establish (a) levels of public expenditure and (b) measures to assess the effectiveness of that expenditure on services provided by her Department for child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in line with the recommendation of the Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published on 25 April 2018.

Victoria Atkins: The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its Interim Report on 25 April. The Report contains a series of recommendations for specific changes, several of which are directed at Government. The Government welcomes the Report and is now considering the Inquiry’s recommendations very carefully. We will respond fully in due course.

Alfie Dingley

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer on 24 April 2018 to Question 136628 on Alfie Dingley, when a decision will be reached on the application for a licence that has been submitted.

Mr Nick Hurd: A clinician has sought to register as a user on the Home Office system with a view to making a licensing application, but at this stage the Home Office has not received any application in relation to this case.

Harassment

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for the guidance on Police Information Notices in the Authorised Professional Practice guidance on harassment and stalking to be published.

Mr Nick Hurd: The College of Policing has produced updated guidance on investigating stalking and harassment, including the use of Police Information Notices by the police, which is currently being reviewed. It is expected that the College will publish this guidance shortly.

Home Office: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office is committed to reducing its use of single-use plastics and is actively taking steps to achieve this. At our London headquarters, we have already replaced all single-use plastic coffee cups, food containers and cutlery from our catering services, with biodegradable alternatives. We have also begun to phase out single-use plastic water cups across the estate. We will continue to work with The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and our suppliers to remove single-use plastics from our office estate.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of corrosive substance attacks in each of the last six months.

Victoria Atkins: We have asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead to undertake a further data collection exercise with police forces so we have updated figures on the level of corrosive substance attacks. The exercise should be completed shortly.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department have been assigned to workstreams involving the (a) monitoring and (b) analysis of the use of corrosive substances as weapons.

Victoria Atkins: There is no specific figure as responsibility for undertaking work on the monitoring and analysis is spread across policy officials in the Tackling Crime Unit and analysts in the Crime and Policing Analysis Unit in the Home Office.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Consultants

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what external agencies or consultants have been contracted by his Department to carry out work in each year since 2010.

David Mundell: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



Other than for minor or bespoke purchases, the Scotland Office does not normally undertake direct procurement or tendering of external agencies or consultant contracts. It utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government or the Ministry of Justice.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Senior Civil Servants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will outline the recruitment process for the new Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team announced on the 19 April 2018, including how many applications were received and how many were shortlisted.

Oliver Dowden: The recruitment process for this role is in line with the Civil Service recruitment principles and advertised across government, with the First Civil Service Commissioner chairing the panel.Information about applicants' progress through the competition is confidential.

Average Earnings

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average full-time salary was in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland in 2017.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response 
(PDF Document, 71.58 KB)

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Electoral Commission on (a) additional funding and (b) additional powers required by the Commission to investigate potential breaches of electoral law during the 2016 European Union Referendum campaign.

Chloe Smith: The Electoral Commission is an independent organisation. It is funded via Parliament (Speaker’s Committee).The Government has regular discussions with the Electoral Commission on a range of issues, including its powers, and keeps these matters under review.

Local Government: Elections

Jo Stevens: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who do not have photo identification in the local authority areas which are piloting photo ID to vote in the elections on 3 May 2018.

Chloe Smith: The British public deserves to have confidence in our democracy. There is clearly the potential for electoral fraud in the systems we have and that undermines confidence and promotes perceptions of vulnerability.The volunteer local authorities who will pilot voter identification at the local elections in May 2018 chose the forms of photographic and non photographic identification that they believe best suit the needs of their electors. Those local authorities have worked collaboratively with Cabinet Office to design pilots that will support the evaluation of a range of identification options. Information regarding the number of people with photo identification in the piloting local authority areas is not held by the Government.No-one will need to purchase identification documents to be able to vote and the identification requirements will not be limited to a passport or driving licence. Voters will be able to use a wide variety of ID, from marriage certificates and passports to bus passes and bank cards, depending on where they live. If voters do not have the required ID local authorities are providing alternative or replacement methods, free of charge, to ensure that no one is disenfranchised. Local authorities have notified every eligible voter by including information of the ID requirement on their poll card.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many of her Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: My Department uses two centres of procurement excellence for all procurement action who manage the tender process on behalf of the client. Details on returning tenders are not held by the department.

Students: Loans

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the student loan repayment threshold for students who have taken out loans in Northern Ireland.

Mr Shailesh Vara: This is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and therefore decisions on this issue are for local politicians in locally accountable political institutions to consider and act upon. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is continuing to meet the political parties to review the current position and explore how we might achieve the restoration of devolution while ensuring the good governance of Northern Ireland in the interim.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Gaming Machines

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to make an announcement on the reduced stake for fixed odds betting terminals.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason it has taken more than three months to assess the evidence on reducing the stakes on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) following the closure of the consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility measures; and what steps have been taken to ensure that people who experience harm due to the high stakes on FOBTs in the interim are supported.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have held meetings with representatives of bookmakers since the end of the consultation on proposals for changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures.

Tracey Crouch: The Government’s consultation on proposals for changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures closed on 23 January. We are currently analysing advice from the Gambling Commission which was published on 19 March, along with over 7,000 responses to the consultation. The responses cover all aspects of the review including, stakes and prizes for all gaming machines (including B2 machines), gambling advertising, online gambling and research, education and treatment (RET). All submissions are being carefully considered and a response to the consultation will be published in due course. We take problem gambling very seriously and protecting vulnerable people is a key aim for the Government and the Gambling Commission. Details of a range of support available to people with gambling problems can be found on the NHS Choices website. Since the consultation closed Ministers have met a wide range of stakeholders, including those who have experienced problems with gambling, those delivering support services as well as representatives of the betting industry. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk. Officials attended those meetings, and have also separately met bookmakers and others with an interest in the consultation since the deadline for responses on 23 January 2018.

Music: Intellectual Property

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to include protection of music intellectual property rights within a future Digital Charter.

Margot James: The purpose of the Digital Charter is to make the internet work for everyone. It is a rolling programme of work to agree norms and rules for the online world and put them into practice. As part of the Charter we are looking at the legal liability that online platforms have for the content shared on their sites. The creative industries sector deal will also help the whole of the creative industries protect and enforce their copyright including through an expansion of voluntary work with industry along the lines of the IPO’s groundbreaking search roundtable process.

Social Media: Children

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which online media platforms operate in the UK for which children make up over 25 per cent of the audience.

Margot James: DCMS does not hold information of this nature.

Social Media: Children

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which online media platforms operating in the UK are designated as children’s media.

Margot James: Online media platforms are not classed in this way and there is not a designated category for children’s media.

Information Commissioner: Data Protection

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that the Information Commissioner's office has sufficient resources to enable it to enforce the General Data Protection Regulations when those Regulations come into force.

Margot James: Government is committed to ensuring that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is able to continue to function as a world class regulator, working effectively across the UK to safeguard the rights of individuals in relation to their data. To this end, we have granted the ICO pay flexibility up to 2020/21 so it can review and update its pay and grading structure, to ensure that the organisation is in the best position to develop and retain effectively its existing resources and expertise. We have also recently introduced new data protection charges, which will provide an increase of over £10 million per annum to the ICO’s income. These increased funds will also enable the ICO to continue to develop the level of expertise available to it and, pivotally, to recruit an additional 30% of their current headcount to support its ongoing data protection work, including its regulatory obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Commissioner has said of our actions that she is “confident that this will allow me to prepare the ICO for its critical role under the new dat"a protection regime ensuring that the UK has a strong and expert regulator in an area recognised for its importance to the digital economy and society as a whole."

Gambling

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will list the gambling companies which have contributed less than 0.1 per cent of gross gambling yield to fund research, education and treatment of gambling addiction in each of the last two years.

Tracey Crouch: The government does not hold this information. The Gambling Commission and GambleAware, the leading charity commissioning research education and treatment, are planning to work together to improve data on contributions, and to improve reporting on contributions, either by operator or sector. GambleAware has also announced that it plans to publish details of all the funding it receives.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 136014, on Youth Social Action Review, on what date the Minister of Sport and Civil Society plans to meet with the Chair of the Independent review of full-time social action.

Tracey Crouch: My meeting with the Chair of the Full-time Social Action Review to discuss the Review’s report is scheduled for May.

Voluntary Work

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of formal volunteering in each year since 2010.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the economic value of formal volunteering in each year since 2010.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of full-time volunteering in each year since 2010.

Tracey Crouch: The Community Life Survey measures the levels of formal volunteering each year. The trend since 2013 for people volunteering formally at least once a month is: Year2013-142014-152015-162016-17% of population engaged27%25%21%22% Formal volunteering was measured using a different methodology before this date, and is therefore not comparable to data from 2013 onwards. The DCMS Economic Estimates for 2016 (published on gov.uk) measure the value added from both formal and informal volunteering at £32.0bn. Separately, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish Satellite Accounts on their website which provide their own estimates for the value of formal volunteering between 2010-2015. We are committed to increasing the quality and quantity of social action opportunities available, regardless of the amount of time given by individuals. Our funds and programmes are not specifically designed to increase the number of full time social action opportunities available, and as such, we do not collect data on the duration of the social action activities provided.

Public Sector: Procurement

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 in supporting civil society through central government procurement.

Tracey Crouch: In 2015 Lord Young of Graffham undertook a review of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 which found the Act was having a really positive effect where it was being used to its fullest extent. We are currently implementing the review’s recommendations. We are engaging with civil society representatives, commissioners, public sector procurement professionals as we develop the government's Civil Society Strategy which will be published later this year. In addition, the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector Crown Representative is also meeting stakeholders to assess how to increase social value through commissioning.

Charities: Closures

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department provides to charities seeking permission to close.

Tracey Crouch: Charities are independent entities and any decision on whether to close a charity is for its trustees. Registered charities must tell the Charity Commission if they cease to exist, so that the Commission can remove them from the register of charities. It is the charity trustees’ responsibility to ensure their charity is wound up appropriately, and to make sure any property or assets are dealt with. The Charity Commission has published guidance on how to close a charity here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-close-a-charity.

House of Commons Commission

Palace of Westminster: Mobile Phones

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to improve cellular phone reception in the Palace of Westminster.

Tom Brake: The House Service is currently developing proposals with suppliers for making improvements to the mobile phone signal across the whole estate. This partly relies on the support of the mobile networks, and so far discussions have been held with one of the four mobile networks and Airwave.Surveys of the estate have already been completed and a network supplier has started to design a system to improve the cover. Work will start shortly.